Welcome to the Department of Political Economy
The Department of Political Economy at King’s College London is a unique multi-disciplinary enterprise – it is the only academic department of its kind in the UK.
Teaching and research in the department is informed by an understanding of the interdependence of economic and political institutions. We understand that analysing the ability of politics and markets to supply goods and services, and to solve social problems, requires comparative evaluation of economic and political processes and their ethical underpinnings. Such political economic analysis should be set in an international context that takes into account the relationships between national and transnational institutions.
In practical terms, this means our teaching and research expertise encompasses a range of theoretical approaches including: new institutional political economy, game theory, evolutionary economics, heterodox economics, political philosophy, and applied public policy. At the subject level it includes micro- and macro- economic policy, trade and development, constitutional design, global governance, crime and punishment, disaster relief, regulation, geopolitics, and the political economy of distributive justice.
Our research may be located within five thematic groups that reflect our concerns and interests in the political economy of:
-
Decisions, democracy and accountabilities
-
Resilience, crisis and recovery
-
Rationality, communication and choice
-
Regulation, uncertainty and rights
-
Beliefs, values and order
Our Programmes
The Department provides a range of taught programmes (both undergraduate and postgraduate) at the interface of political science and political economy, focused on the study of the role of rules and institutions in human social life, particularly in the development, implementation and evaluation of public policy.
The Department already provides a ‘home’ for a number of research students and plans to rapidly expand the number of these students.