Economics for Everyone
Online Course: How to Cut Through the Jargon
Given the dramatic economic events of the past 2 years, it’s more important than ever that everyday citizens have a good base of economic literacy to help them interpret what’s happening, and evaluate competing visions for how best to respond. In autumn 2021, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford is teaching an online popular economics course through the Later Life Learning consortium at Innis College at the University of Toronto. The course will cover all the building blocks of Canada’s economy: including employment, wages, investment, competition, the environment, government, finance, globalization, and economic cycles. On this page we will post recordings of the lectures (ten in total), presentation slides, and supplementary readings. The course is using Jim’s book, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, as a key resource. Please visit http://economicsforeveryone.ca/ for more information on the book and supplementary materials.
Session 1: The Economy and Economics
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 2: A Little History
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 3: Work and Tools
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 4: Class: Bosses, Owners, and Workers
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 5: Government and the Economy
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 6: Distribution, Power and Inequality
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 6 Supplementary Materials:
Some Important Feminist Economists
Session 7: The Economy and the Environment
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 8: The Paper Economy and the Real Economy: Money, Banking, and Finance
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Session 8 Supplementary Materials:
Session 9: The Economy After COVID
Lecture Notes (handout format)
Lecture Notes (full slide format)
Video Lecture
Extra Readings on Pandemic and the Economy:
- Ten Ways the COVID-19 Pandemic Must Change Work for Good, by Jim Stanford (Centre for Future Work).
- “We’re going to need a Marshall Plan to rebuild after COVID-19,” by Jim Stanford, Policy Options, April 2, 2020.
- “Direction of post-COVID reconstruction at stake in federal election,” by Jim Stanford, Canadian Dimension, September 2, 2021.