Sites by Academics & Students
Ethical Systems; Business Integrity Through Research
The heart of the website of Ethical Systems is the ‘research tab’, where they “review the existing research and distill best practices based on insights from the behavioral and management sciences.” There is a review page for about 20 topics, including: cheating & honesty, compliance & ethics programs, conflicts of interest, corporate culture, corruption, decision making, ethics pays, fairness, leadership, trust, and whistle blowing.
Exploring Economics
Exploring Economics is run by students from the Network for Pluralist Economics. They offer resources to orient yourself on key schools and ideas in economics, collect texts, videos, podcasts and multimedia dossiers on various economic theories and issues, and maintain a database of online courses. All items indicate the level of difficulty to help students choose suitable content.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
IEP articles “are written with the intention that most of the article can be understood by advanced undergraduates majoring in philosophy and by other scholars who are not working in the field covered by that article. The IEP articles are written by experts but not for experts.” Relevant entries include: Adam Smith, Economics and Law, Ethics of Economic Sanctions, Game Theory, Libertarianism, Moral Character, Right to Private Property, Sen’s Capability Approach, and Virtue Ethics.
History of Economic Thought
History of Econonomic Thought is the labor of love of a single scholar, with “information and resources on the history of economic thought from the ancient times until the modern day. It is designed for students, researchers and the general public, who are interested in learning about economics from a historical perspective.” It contains an alphabetical index of economists / economic thinkers, an extensive list of entries on different schools in economics, essays on various topics and links to other websites on the history of economic thought.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
“The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work“, an encyclopedia which is thorough and freely accessible. Relevant entries include: Adam Smith’s Moral and Political Philosophy / Business Ethics / Economics and Economic Justice / Exploitation / Friedrich Hayek / Game Theory and Ethics / Karl Marx / Libertarianism / Markets / Philosophy of Economics / Philosophy of Money and Finance
Sites by Think Tanks
Adam Smith (Liberty Fund)
The Liberty Fund, an American libertarian non-profit, runs a website on the work of Adam Smith. It includes background info, a text repository, educational resources and a portal for scholars specialized in the works of Adam Smith. A nice feature is an ‘interactive 18th century pin factory‘ (one of the examples that Smith uses in his work).
Economic Freedom (Fraser Institute)
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian research and educational organization, has developed an online map of economic freedom in countries around the world. “The cornerstones of economic freedom“, they say, “are (1) personal choice, (2) voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, (3) freedom to enter and compete in markets, and (4) protection of persons and their property from aggression by others.” The map contains data from 1970 to 2015.
Libertarianism (Cato Institute)
Libertarianism.org is funded by the Cato Institute, an American think tank. On the site you can find various audio lecture series (such as an introduction to libertarianism and on foundational concepts in economics), a whole encyclopedia on the topic, and various podcast series, such as on the history of libertarian ideas and on government action and individual liberty.
Micro-economics (Acton Institute)
The Acton Institute, a conservative American think thank, has a long-running series of short, weekly videos which introduce you to the basis of micro-economics. There is, for example, a video on externalities, on how markets link the world, on price controls and communism, and on how markets discover equilibrium prices. The mission of the Action Institute is “to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.“