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Philo@PA: The Philomathean Society


A friendly guide to parliamentary extemporaneous debate at Phillips Academy.


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Economics

A simplified look at banking and credit:

Banking and Credit

Simplified look at specialization & benefits of trade, useful to rebut against people suggesting less international trade improves businesses / leaves country better off:

Specialization and Trade

A look at economic systems & capitalism vs. communism / the spectrum of mixed economies, has a good explanation of opportunity costs in relation to systems, could be helpful for rebuttals / points on fiscal policy rounds:

Economic Systems

Quick look at inflation, useful when wanting to apply this as an extraneity to any policy, especially minimum wage debates:

Inflation

An in-depth look at economics in relation to debate, especially when debating policies that affect inequality / redistribution versus economic growth (skip over the bits where she asks the crowd, it’s useless to sit there for two minutes while she just stands there, also try watching on 1.25 speed):

Economics in Debate

Honestly, the entire crash course series for econ gives you a good understanding of the major concepts of econ, so here’s the playlist link: pick which ones you think would be good for debate / which ones you think would be interesting to learn about:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPNZwz5_o_5uirJ8gQXnhEO