Political economy is the holistic study of the relationship between government, society, and the economy. The degree was tied with English as the 14th most popular major among the 2024-25 graduating class. The College of Letters & Science has designated political economy as a high-demand major, meaning that student demand exceeds available space or current teaching capacity.<\/p>\n
In 2018, with Karras\u2019s assistance, the Political Economy Program launched an alumni advisory board to bolster the program and create a network between current students and its exceptionally diverse alumni. As founding co-chair G. Eric Davis completed his inaugural term, the board undertook an effort to match his family\u2019s $500,000 commitment to establish the first faculty endowment in the program\u2019s history. That effort became the G. Eric and Margaret Davis Notable Lecturer in Political Economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud that the endowment continues to grow as it elevates and enhances what is already the preeminent political economy program in the country,\u201d said G. Eric Davis. \u201cThe flexible-yet-rigorous analytical framework earned through a political economy education will be a critical asset for leaders in the rapidly changing and uncertain world we are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Founders Board \u2014 an executive committee of the alumni board \u2014 was established, and each member made a meaningful commitment to support the endowment. Founders Board members Andrew Barkett, Craig Enenstein, Afsheen Lebastchi, Scott Morgan, Mark Rosenberg, Alison Shimada, and Tracy Tuens \u2014 along with Carol Mon Lee \u2014 all contributed, exceeding the match goal. Lebastchi and Rosenberg were former students of Karras.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical Economy offers one of the most compelling frameworks for understanding today\u2019s world, particularly in times of rapid change and uncertainty,\u201d said Barkett, a co-chair of the Political Economy Advisory Board. \u201cMany of the most important challenges we face \u2014 across markets, governments, and societies \u2014 don\u2019t fit neatly within a single discipline, which is why interdisciplinary approaches in academia are more important than ever. Berkeley\u2019s program is especially well positioned to lead in this space, and I believe it has the potential to become the leading program of its kind globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a 1985 graduate of the Political Economy Program, I have come to truly value UC Berkeley\u2019s interdisciplinary way of learning,\u201d said Shimada, the other Political Economy Advisory Board co-chair. \u201cThe world now requires an integrated way of thinking that is well-served by political economy. Therefore, I was very interested in supporting the program\u2019s curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shimada said she uses the skills and perspectives she learned at UC Berkeley every day in her role as an equity portfolio manager covering emerging markets. Her political economy background proved useful in understanding geo-political risk, national economic agendas, and corresponding corporate behavior.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents who excel in political economy excel in becoming good global citizens,\u201d said Shimada.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, UC Berkeley\u2019s political economists \u2014 with Dean of Social Sciences Raka Ray\u2019s strong support \u2014 hope to turn their successful program into a full-fledged department. Their next goals are to create additional teaching capacity and grow the endowment fund to support an administrative chair position for the Political Economy Program\u2019s faculty director.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Political economy is the holistic study of the relationship between government, society, and the economy. The degree was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-370443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}