Week 15 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Political Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 15 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 63–80 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more depth, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (17–21 min total)

① How do economies mix markets and the state?

Chapter 15, Section “Find the seam: political economy and the mixed economy” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Markets and the state” · Remember: every real economy mixes markets and the state, so the useful question is the mix and the institutions behind it.

Economic Systems and Macroeconomics: Crash Course Economics #3 — CrashCourse — a brisk tour of planned economies, market economies, and the mixed systems most countries end up with; as you watch, note each time the hosts describe a real economy as a mix rather than a pure type. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)

② Who gains and who pays when goods cross borders?

Chapter 15, Section “Weigh the findings: trade policy” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Trade: gains and costs” · Remember: trade brings gains to the economy as a whole and costs to particular towns, and trade policy is where those two findings get weighed.

Comparative Advantage Explained — Jacob Clifford — a short worked example of per-unit opportunity cost and who should specialize in what; pause before each answer and work it yourself, the way the chapter works Bellmoor and Talvik. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Free Trade, Concise Encyclopedia of Economics — Econlib — a plain-language case for free trade built on specialization and comparative advantage, with a section on what protecting one job costs buyers; it makes the free-trade side's case, so as you read, write down the managed-trade reply in its strongest form. (reading, 8–12 min)
Globalization and Trade and Poverty: Crash Course Economics #16 — CrashCourse — the hosts openly argue that globalization is good in aggregate while naming the people it leaves worse off; treat it as one side of this week's open question, and note that its poverty figures come from an older line than the current one. (video, 9 min) (captions: creator)

③ What does a poverty line count, and what does it miss?

Chapter 15, Section “Define the line: the International Poverty Line” · Session 2, Segment 3, “Reading the poverty line” · Remember: a poverty line is a definition with a price base, so always name the line before you read a count or a share.

June 2025 Update to Global Poverty Lines — World Bank — the World Bank's own questions and answers on why the line moved to 3.00 dollars a day in 2021 international prices; read the opening answers on why it changed, and use them while working through the Week-15 module overview. This builds on Week 13's work with the comparative method and with reading published measures critically, with their edition and year. (reading, 6–10 min)
How is poverty measured? — World Bank Group — an older animated explainer of how household surveys and a price adjustment turn into a global count; it predates the current line, so carry the method forward and take the line itself from the chapter. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)
Poverty and (Economic) Inequality Defined, Explained and Compared in One Minute — One Minute Economics — a quick contrast of a threshold measure and a spread measure; afterward, explain in one sentence how Saltmere became less poor and more unequal at once. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)

④ Why are shared problems across borders so hard?

Chapter 15, Section “Name the trap: climate change as a collective-action problem” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Shared problems across borders” · Remember: when everyone gains from cooperation but each gains more by waiting, the physical facts can be settled while the policy stays open.

How Climate Change is a Collective Action Problem — CFR Education — a short explainer of why countries can agree a problem is real and still hold back from acting; as you watch, match each point to the free-rider payoffs in the chapter. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)
What is climate change? — Met Office — the UK national weather service's plain account of the greenhouse effect and the human causes of recent warming; read it for the physical basics, and notice where the page moves from those findings to a policy view, which is a separate, argued question. (reading, 6–9 min)
Migration — Our World in Data — a data hub on migrant numbers, refugees, and money migrants send home, each chart with its source; pick one chart and say what it measures, over whom, and in what year, before you say what any country ought to do. (reading, 4–6 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Poverty — Our World in Data — the data page behind this week's shares, built from the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform; read the opening and the charts that compare the share below different daily lines, and skip the country-by-country explorers. (reading, 8–12 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com