Introduction

Over the century since its inception, the Oxford Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE hereafter) degree has been the focus of admiration and con­troversy alike. Originally conceived as “Modern Greats”, a portmanteau undergraduate degree parallel to Oxford's Literae Humaniores, or “Greats”, PPE has evolved over time, as has its influence.

Fred Lee (1949—2014) was my co-author on Oxford Economics and Oxford Economists (1993). This essay would have been co-authored with him, and is based on many of his writings, so it is a posthumous joint publication.

W. Young (*)

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

F. S. Lee (1949-2014)

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 131

R. A. Cord (ed.), The Palgrave Companion to Oxford Economics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58471-9_5

While Cambridge was Marshall and then Pigou, economics at Oxford had long been dominated by the English Historical School...which called into question the universal propositions of mathematical model building. PPE in the 1920s relied at least as much on Mill's Political Economy as on Marshall's Principles. The enterprise had the stigma of being a soft option (Reisman 2018: 4—5).

Even as late as 1968, a left-wing critic of PPE and its impact upon Harold Wilson, one of its most prestigious graduates, wrote in his biography of Wilson:

The Oxford School of Politics, Philosophy and Economics is based on two unal­terable principles: first, everything written about politics and philosophy by Karl Marx...is out of date and dangerously biased, while everything written by John Stuart Mill,.is modern, vigorous and untainted by bias; secondly, every­thing written about economics by Karl Marx.is out of date and dangerously biased, while everything written by Alfred Marshall is modern, vigorous and untainted by bias (Foot 1968: 32).

After the establishment of PPE, some Oxford economists even lobbied for a separate degree in economics and the formation of a School of Economics such that, early on, there was little support for the degree in Oxford, especially amongst the economists themselves (see Young and Lee 1993: 26). Indeed, an Economics Department was established in Oxford only in 1999, and there is still no Oxford BA in the subject. This lack of led to critiques of PPE by some of its most prominent graduates who became economists, including Hicks and Meade. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Hicks said, ‘My move (in 1923) to “philosophy, politics and economics”, the “new school” just being started at Oxford, was however not a success. I finished with a Second-Class degree, and no adequate qualification in any of the subjects I studied' (Hicks 1992: 133). Meade, another laureate in economics, described PPE as being a ‘Jack-of- three-trades' degree (Meade quoted in Reisman 2018: 5).

In any case, the overall pedagogical aims and objectives of the Oxford PPE have remained consistent since its inception. It was first established ‘to pro­mote the study of the structure, and philosophical, political and economic principles, of modern society' (Chester 1986: 35). In 1960, according to the Handbook to the University of Oxford, it was ‘designed to be a well-balanced course of study of the social problems of the modern world' (Handbook to the University ofOxford 1960: 158). The following description, on the occasion of its centenary, appeared on the PPE website in March 2020:

PPE was born of the conviction that study of the great modern works of economic, social, political and philosophical thought would have a transforma­tive effect on students' intellectual lives, and thereby on society at large. This conviction remains as firm today as it was then. As the world has evolved, so has PPE. The course brings together some of the most important approaches to understanding the world around us, developing skills useful for a wide range of careers and activities (PPE website n.d.).

However, immediately under this appeared, a photograph of the famous door 10 Downing Street, illustrating the dissonance that has affected PPE over the past century. On the one hand, it became perhaps the world’s most famous undergraduate academic degree, attracting from the beginning American Rhodes Scholars. According to one account of the relationship between the Rhodes Scholar programme and Oxford, PPE was in fact set up partly to meet the needs of Rhodes Scholars. It was purposely constructed for those who sought careers in public service but had little or no knowledge of Greek required for acceptance into the Greats programme (see Schaeper and Schaeper 2010: chapter 7). Moreover, one of the early arguments put forth in 1919 in support of establishing the degree was ‘the expectation of foreign students, especially from America, of finding in Oxford a complete apparatus of systematic training in social studies’ (Briggs 1991: 320). On the other hand, it served as a training ground for what turned out to be the British political elite and future leaders in many other countries.

The University awards degrees—undergraduate and graduate—based on examination and/or dissertation. University faculties, schools and depart­ments are the framework for lectures. Instruction also includes seminars, lab work (in the physical and biological sciences) and other types of learning. Colleges provide small group undergraduate teaching known as tutorials, which are ‘central to teaching at Oxford’ (University of Oxford website n.d.). This has been the case for the past century of PPE. However, a caveat is neces­sary here. While tutoring takes place in colleges, in some cases, students have been tutored by dons in colleges other than their own at the initiative of the college economics tutors themselves. Moreover, different tutors often have their own subject preferences. Responsibility for lectures was sub-Faculty, and, after 1999, Department of Economics based. The bipartite PPE struc­ture after the first year of study was introduced in 1971, focusing on the combination of either economics and politics, economics and philosophy, or politics and philosophy.

The economics element of the degree begins with Introductory Economics in the first year. This is a compulsory course and introduces students to micro and macroeconomic theory. In the second and third years, students continuing with Economics on a bipartite basis are required to take at least three courses in Economics and at least one of these must be Microeconomics, Macroeconomics or Quantitative Economics. Students studying Economics on a tripartite basis are required to take at least two courses in Economics and at least one of these must be Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Quantitative Economics or Development of the World Economy Since 1800. Students may choose from a range of optional courses in areas such as Behavioural and Experimental Economics, Money and Banking, Labour Economics and Inequality and Economics of Developing Countries. Students thinking of pursuing a demand­ing higher degree in pure Economics (for example the MPhil in Economics at Oxford) normally take Econometrics and either Game Theory and/or Microeconomic Analysis (Department of Economics website n.d.).

The history of PPE has been dealt with in detail by Chester (1986), Young and Lee (1993) and Currie (1994). Here, we will limit our study to a purpo­sive survey of PPE economic studies and the development of what we have called “Oxford Economics”. Before proceeding, however, an account of the development of political economy before the advent of PPE is warranted in order to better understand the background to, and problematic nature and historical context of, economics within the degree.

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