Reading List for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford and LSE

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Reading List - Oxford and LSE

A PPE reading list

Few of us have the opportunity to study philosophy, politics, and economics at leading institutions. But that shouldn’t stop us engaging with and enjoying such topics. This post contains a reading list for studying undergraduate philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Oxford for your perusal. I sourced this list from the institutions and colleges’ websites, favouring general interest books over textbooks for happier reading. Here’s hoping you might find something you’ll enjoy!

Jump ahead:

Philosophy

Classics:

Logic:

  • Volker Halbach’s The Logic Manual (2010), Brian Skyrms’ Choice and Chance (1966) and Wilfred Hodges’ Logic (2001): ‘Textbook’ introductions into logical reasoning (Halbach lecture slides are also available online).  
  • R.M. Sainsbury, 2009, Paradoxes: An introduction to a series of paradoxes (each of increasing difficulty) and philosophical reasoning.

General interest:

Politics

Classics:

Democracy, institutions, and policy:

Economics

General interest:

  • Robert Heilbroner, 1999, The Worldly Philosophers: From Adam Smith to Karl Marx, it’s a look into “the lives, times, and ideas of the great economic thinkers”.
  • Paul Krugman, 1998, The Accidental Theorist: A collection of Krugman’s essays that span many topics in economics, from corporate downsizing to globalisation in America. 
  • Thomas Schelling, 1978, Micromotives and Macrobehaviour: Looking at the interplay between micro- and macrosystems, and how combined actions can produce unintended or unanticipated consequences.
  • Nassim Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness (2004) and The Black Swan (2007): On chance and randomness, and our tribulations with probabilistic reasoning.

Industry, institutions, and development:

  • Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, 2012, Why Nations Fail: A look at the features of economic and political institutions that bring about power, prosperity, and poverty; And Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997).
  • Eric Hobsbawm, 1999, Industry and Empire: A tour through Britain’s economic history, following its rise and relative decline as the first industrial superpower, and onto present day.
  • Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, 2012, Poor Economics: A “radical rethinking” of economic reasoning, assumptions and applications to help resolve global poverty.

Markets, banking, and debt: