Case studies

Canada’s Pacific Groundfish Trawl Fishery: Ecosystem Conflicts (CC BY)

An open case study by the University of British Columbia that looks conflicts between  British Columbia’s commercial fishing industry and environmental NGO’s.

Courses

Lectures in Quantitative Economics (CC BY-ND)

This website presents a series of lectures on quantitative economic modeling.  It provides a hands-on instruction manual, with all code written in modern, open source programming languages. Topics include algorithms and numerical methods for studying economic problems, related mathematical and statistical concepts, and basics of coding skills and software engineering. The intended audience is upper level undergraduate students and graduate students and researchers in economics, finance and related fields. There are two versions of the website, a Python version and a Julia version.

Open Learning Campus (OLC) (Check individual resources for permissions)

Inspired by the success and credibility of proven approaches to online learning, the OLC is a learning ecosystem that is open, interactive and networked. It leverages the vast knowledge of the World Bank Group (WBG) and its partners and converts it into actionable learning for effective development.

Repositories

World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (Licences vary)

This repository is the largest single source of knowledge on economic development around the world.

Textbooks

BC Open Textbook Collection: Economics (Various CC licences)

A collection of open textbooks on topics related to economics.

CORE: The Economy (CC BY-NC-ND)

This open textbook (available in English and in French) functions as a standard introduction-to-economics text.

CORE: Economy, Society, and Public Policy (CC BY-NC-ND)

An economics text that has been specifically designed for students from social science, public policy, business and management, engineering, biology, and other disciplines, who are not economics majors. The book is also being used successfully in courses for economics, business, and public policy majors, as well as in economics modules for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), and masters’ courses in Public Policy.

The Economics of Food and Agricultural Markets (CC BY-NC)

The Economics of Food and Agricultural Markets is written for applied intermediate microeconomics courses.

Models in Microeconomic Theory (CC BY-NC-ND)

Models in Microeconomic Theory covers basic models in current microeconomic theory. Part I (Chapters 1-7) presents models of an economic agent, discussing abstract models of preferences, choice, and decision making under uncertainty, before turning to models of the consumer, the producer, and monopoly. Part II (Chapters 8-14) introduces the concept of equilibrium, beginning, unconventionally, with the models of the jungle and an economy with indivisible goods, and continuing with models of an exchange economy, equilibrium with rational expectations, and an economy with asymmetric information. Part III (Chapters 15-16) provides an introduction to game theory, covering strategic and extensive games and the concepts of Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium. Part IV (Chapters 17-20) gives a taste of the topics of mechanism design, matching, the axiomatic analysis of economic systems, and social choice.

The book focuses on the concepts of model and equilibrium. It states models and results precisely, and provides proofs for all results. It uses only elementary mathematics (with almost no calculus), although many of the proofs involve sustained logical arguments. It includes about 150 exercises.

With its formal but accessible style, this textbook is designed for undergraduate students of microeconomics at intermediate and advanced levels.

Principles of Macroeconomic Literacy (CC BY-SA)

Principles of Macroeconomic Literacy emphasizes basic economic concepts such as value and cost in developing macroeconomic ideas. Students learn concepts involving credit markets, economic planning, and money through short fictional stories in which characters interact in an attempt to make themselves better off. Where many texts put the student in the position of an imagined macroeconomic policy dictator, Principles of Macroeconomic Literacy attempts to make macroeconomics comprehensible to students who live everyday.