What Political Economy is, and why I do it

When I first got to Berkeley, I was lost but unaware of it. I had applied to the university intending to major in economics at the earnest of the AP Econ teacher I was a TA for in my junior year of high school. Fresh into college, I had forty units worth of AP credit, four units worth of college credit, and the feeling that I needed to stick to what I knew and continue on the path that life seemed to be leading me on.

However, during my orientation weekend, I heard of the Political Economy major and it threw me off. The idea of it seemed so much closer to what I thought I was passionate about, but I didn’t know much about the subject. I wasn’t even sure what I felt passionate about to begin with. As I started enrolling for my freshman year classes, I was overwhelmed by how many different pathways there were. I decided it would be fine for me to explore a little bit more and see what I was interested in. That decision would end up being the beginning of a newfound direction for my life.

Political economy is, ultimately, a way to look at the world and examine if from a critical lens. Economics is technically a subset of political economy and many of its foundational theorists have identified as political economists.

Discovering the theories of political economy was the same as discovering myself.

Not knowing what you want to do with your life is one of the greatest difficulties of being young. The years ahead seem so full of potential that all the biggest actions and seemingly insignificant choices become heavy burdens. It was a mistake to consider pursuing economics simply because I was told I should or for the sake of actually having known about the subject before university. I still enjoy the subject and am extremely interested in it. However, learning about political economy has taken those interests and transformed them into something I’m legitimately passionate about: philosophy, reading, analyzing, theorizing, writing, applying, understanding. I’m not focusing on taking some data and coming to conclusions about it in an economic sense. I’m studying in order to understand the world and my place in it. Political economy is taking information, coming up with a policy, and seeing how it plays out. It’s criticizing everything you’ve known and taken for granted no matter how painful the process is. It’s the economy, the government, civil society, and me.

When I first declared Political Economy as a major, I knew that I was on the right path because for the first time ever I was surrounded by individuals that felt the same way as me. The ideas that I learned about for four years made me want to get up in the morning and change the world. IAS 45 was one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken in my life, POLECON 100 provided some of my best friends ever, and POLECON 101 introduced me to one of the most incredible professors I’ve had the privilege to know. I’m beyond excited to talk to people about how “Public Policy in Urban Development and the Economics of Globalization” was my very own concentration as an undergraduate. Being the Co-Chair of the Political Economy Student Association gave me the opportunity to represent this major I loved so much and to support the futures of the amazing people I’ve met in this major.

Now that I am graduated, I look back on my time fondly. Studying this subject - though difficult at times and certainly complicated enough to explain during an interview - made me who I am today. For this, I am greatful.