This webpage contains material to encourage users to practice their English for economics: it is not marked. Some material relates to certain courses (as indicated).
For any comments, please write to: Nicholas Sowels Last updated: 27 April 2022
A short general quizz: Introduction to economics, from Economics Online
Great multiple choice questions in economics by Oxford University Press, including:
Chapter 01 - The Nature of Economics; Chapter 02 - Scarcity, Governments, and Economists; Chapter 03 - Supply and Demand, etc.
Various Economics Quizzes & Trivia
Some general crossword puzzles in economics:
1/ Basic vocabulary.
2/ Microeconomics.
3/
Macroeconomics.
4/ European integration and Union.
Online crosswords:
1. motivation (course by J. Beuve & L. Rochaix)
2. debt and money (course by Arnaud Lechevalier)
3. non-fungible tokens
Online crossword puzzles:
1. motivation (course by Beuve & Rochaix)
2. debt and money (course by Arnaud Lechevalier)
The remaining activities below only function for students enrolled in economics at Paris 1.
1/ Keynes versus Hayek:
In 2010, this well-known video was produced: Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek - The Original Economics Rap Battle! It is still up to date. It
correctly shows Keynes as being a self-confident English elitist, and Hayek as a more insecure emigré intellectual. This film of Keynes is a rare video of him, explaining the
consequences of Britain leaving the gold standard in 1931: it clearly shows the logic of macroeconomics which Keynes brought to economics. Hayek got his revenge years later, as in this video in which he explains that Keynes' reputation had declined, while he - Hayek - was still alive. In another video, Hayek even claims that Keynes knew little about
economics. In contrast, Paul Krugman, who wrote an introduction to Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, believed it probably to be the most important book in economics ever.
Actually, Keynes and Hayek had a lot of respect for each other.
Round Two is the follow-up rap video in which Keynes and Hayek continue their fight.
2/ Understand the Economy: this is an excellent series of podcasts from the BBC, produced by Tim Hartford (the "Undercover economist" columnist of The Financial Times). The series began in October 2022, and includes podcasts of about 15 minutes on many key topics: inflation, interest rates & mortgage rates, economic growth and GDP, etc.
3/ NFTs - SNL (Saturday Night Live)
"What the hell's in NFT?" This rap song parody refers to Harvard, Yanet Yellen (The US Treasury Secretary), Eminem, Morpheus from The Matrix, and Good Will Hunting, etc.