Economics Super Curricular Activities

Relevant super curricular learning for Economics covers some surprising material. One Cambridge college helpfully advises that you should have ‘a working knowledge of British politics since 1945’ and should revise your existing maths and statistics skills. The resources below are a great start. Beyond that, Cambridge’s Faculty of Economics also has a useful advice video for potential applicants here: What advice would you give a student thinking of applying to study Economics ?

Listen to podcasts

Podcasts are great for multi-tasking: engage your mind while doing chores, walking the dog or going for a run. Here are some highly rated choices to wisely invest those opportunities:

• EconTalk: Weekly conversations with leading economists and other thinkers, ranging beyond economic theory and into practical policies and ideas too.
• More or Less: Behind the Stats: This podcast precisely dismantles statistical claims made in the news and does it with good humour. Presented by the FT’s ‘Undercover Economist’, Tim Harford.
• 50 Things that Made the Modern Economy: There are now more than 100 episodes in the archive. Analysing the influence of everyday items from canned food to QWERTY keyboards.
• Freakonomics Radio: Following the famous book’s theme of finding the hidden economics of everyday life.
• Macro Musings: Steps back to consider large-scale economic issues such as inflation, monetary policy and labour markets via interviews with prominent economists of today.
• Planet Money: Direct economic thinking via big topical stories
• Gresham College lectures on Economics: Accessible public talks from expert academics, available in both audio and video formats.
• London School of Economics public lectures: These are available to watch or listen to, presenting a range of challenging viewpoints.

Watch documentaries

Concise and memorable, documentaries are an easy-focus entry point to extended knowledge:

• Masters of Money (2012): Clear introductions to the three major thinkers of modern economics. Episodes on John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek and Karl Marx.
• Ideas That Changed the World: The Real Adam Smith (2016): Two hour-long explorations of the ideas and their legacy.
• The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman (2007): His core ideas and their impact on global free market economics.
• Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain (2007): Easy presentation of the political and cultural context that you need as background understanding for studying economics. Charts the years 1945-2000.
• The Ascent of Money (2008): Six-episode adaptation of the book narrating the history of money from Babylonian clay tablets through the concept of credit and debt, to statism and globalisation.
• Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy (2002): Analysing the rise and fall of state-controlled economies and the subsequent global shift towards market-driven policies. Keynesianism versus the free market.
• 97% Owned (2022): UK-centric focus on money creation, banking and the role of central banks.
• Let’s Make Money (2008): A critical review of the global flow of capital.
• The End of Poverty? (2008): The roots and persistence of global poverty.
• The Century of the Self (2002): The development psychoanalysis and its potential shaping of consumer capitalism.
• Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It (2015): Introduction to cryptocurrencies and monetary innovation.

Subscribe to YouTube channels

Don’t have much time or are too tired to focus on a book? There are some excellent economics videos being made every day for YouTube.

• Economics Explained: Hour-long primers on global economics topics.
• Crash Course Economics: Fun and fast-paced overviews of economics topics and key thinkers. Entertaining visuals to help you keep track of the ideas.
• Jacob Clifford: Enthusiastic explanations of micro- and macroeconomics.
• How Money Works: Explaining personal finance and the systems behind it.
• Khan Academy: Economics and Finance: Clear teaching of foundational concepts.

Read books

These popular books stand out for the new perspectives they offer on the subject:

• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner: Applying economic thinking in unconventional ways to solve interesting questions of everyday life.
• The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford: Everyday economics and real world applications.
• The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007): Dealing with uncertainty in the face of highly improbable events with massive impact. Full of case studies.
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann (2011): Explains the differences between intuitive and deliberative thinking with their consequences for human behaviour.

Classic texts are sometimes long and/or difficult, but there is no substitute for encountering at least part of the key thinkers in their own words. Dip into them, at least:

• An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776): Key text in classical economic thought and arguably the foundation of modern economics itself.
• Das Kapital by Karl Marx (1867): Key text in anti-capitalism and communism. Difficult but foundational for twentieth century developments.
• The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes (1936): Key text for Keynesian individualism.
• The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek (1944): Key text against big state collectivism, influential at key turning point in economic history.
• Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman (1962): Key text in free market economics.

Broad surveys offer wide understanding in one volume while presenting a strong thesis of their own. A good return on your time investment:

• The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers by Robert L. Heilbroner (1953): A classic history of economic thought with its own perspective of the science’s right relation to society and politics.
• The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson (2007): A financial history of the world, placing money at the centre of human progress.
• Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu (2012): Detailed argument that political and economic institutions primarily account for different nations’ power and prosperity.
• Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty (2013): Much discussed and contested deep analysis of the structures of capital and the effects of inequality.

Take online courses

‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) give you a taste of university style modules from top institutions at your own pace. The videos and accompanying resources tend to be very high quality. The courses are usually accessible for free but often allow paid upgrades to have submissions marked, engage in discussion or to earn a certificate at the end. There are some intriguing Economics examples below, but you can browse a more comprehensive list for all subjects here.

• Principles of Economics (MIT on edX) [Archived but still freely accessible.]
• Microeconomics: The Power of Markets (University of Pennsylvania on Coursera)
• Macroeconomics: The Big Picture (Rice University on Coursera)
• Financial Markets (Yale University on Coursera)
• Economics of Money and Banking (Columbia University on Coursera)
• The Challenges of Global Poverty (MIT online)

Enter competitions

• Young Enterprise: There are a range of opportunities here. The 10X Challenge runs in March each year, where teams of students compete to best invest £10 in a new product or service. For a longer-term challenge, the Company Programme involves starting a whole new business over 12 weeks to a year.
• Tycoon Enterprise Competition (Peter Jones Foundation): Kickstarter-style competition for investment loans of up to £3,000 per school.
• Young Economist of the Year (Royal Economic Society): Compete to give the best analysis of contemporary economic challenges. Choice of formats for your response: essay, video, podcast or slide deck.
• Next Generation Economics Competition (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) in June: Write the best letter of response to big economic challenges. Choice of issues available.
• Marshall Society Essay Competition (University of Cambridge) in August: Essays of 1,250 words on a choice of seven economics questions for monetary prize and publication.
• Economics Essay Competition (London School of Economics) in August: 1,500 words on a choice of questions chosen by different professors. Amazon gift cards and signed certificates for the winners.
• Economics Essay Competition (Minds Underground) in March: Straightforward choice from three questions for a £40 tuition voucher.
• Monetary Policy Essay Prize (Institute of Economic Affairs) in January: 2,500 words on a single question for a large top prize of £1,500.
• Global Essay Prize (Economics) (John Locke Institute) in June: 2,000 words on a choice of three questions for Economics. Very high profile international competition with scholarships on offer and an awards dinner in London.

Economics University Admissions Support & TSA Tuition 

If you'd like further information about applying to study Economics at a UK university do contact us. We work with a range of tutors who have experience preparing students for the TSA admissions test, Economics super curricular learning and mock interview preparation.