Ibn Khaldun podcast

This is from Economics in Ten podcast, season three, episode four. Ibn Khaldun was a 14th-century North African scholar who is sometimes described as the first economist, several centuries before Adam Smith. His Muqaddimah contained ideas that now look remarkably prescient: an early version of the Laffer curve, a cyclical theory of economic history, and analysis of trade and specialisation. The episode is a useful corrective to the Eurocentric story usually told about the origins of economics, and it’s a good discussion-starter about the history and geography of ideas. The content goes beyond the A-level spec, but it’s one of the more memorable and thought-provoking episodes: best suited as enrichment for students who are interested in ideas beyond the standard narrative.  Listen here