Teaching Political Economy Workshop, University of Warwick, 21 September 2012.

Monsieur Jourdain’s confession I’ve been teaching Political Economy all my life! The titles of the ‘political economy’ courses I have taught over the years: 1.Undergraduate: Business and Politics in Britain ( ) ; Governing the British Economy (2000-5) 2.MA: Business and Politics under Advanced Capitalism ( ); Governing the European Economy (2000-6)

Why no ‘political economy’ Don’t frighten the horses ‘A little bit of theory goes a long way’ The interests of students The economic priorities of students The driver of current events

The ‘institutional setting’ of undergraduate political economy ‘Political economy’ at Manchester: the staff language The nature of the social science undergraduate audience The ‘catchment area’ for student recruitment for BPG The cultural reasons: : the shift from ‘special subjects’ under mass higher education The ‘business’ reasons: load transfer incomes and devolved budgets

The intellectual setting of undergraduate political economy The irrelevance of the Manchester tradition: the character of modern Manchester economics The research setting: The British Regulatory State (2007) and Business, Politics and Society (2009.) The historical setting: the collapse of the Great Moderation (After the Great Complacence) Events and modes of assessment: the student driven nature of the course after September 2007.

The setting of graduate political economy The commonalities with undergraduates: the irrelevance of the ‘Manchester tradition’. The institutional transformation: the rise of mass graduate teaching and the economics of universities The triple problem: class management; diversity of the student body; the problem of finding a common ‘political economy’ language My solution: an empirical focus; and a heavy reliance on students’ own experience and background The result: a little bit of theory goes a long way. Back to Monsieur Jourdain!