Setting the Field: Foundations of Economic Policy Analysis
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.”
– John Maynard Keynes
Learning Objectives
By the end of Part I, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the diverse origins of economic thought and why it matters for policy
- Describe the main reasons governments intervene in market economies
- Distinguish between the key instruments governments use to shape economic outcomes
Before you can pick up any analytical tool, you need to understand the field you are playing on. This part does two things: it gives you a genuinely global picture of where economic thinking comes from — spoiler: it wasn’t all invented in 18th-century Britain — and it maps out why governments intervene in economies and how they go about it.
Think of it as your pre-match briefing.
