The Map of Economics
From personal choices to markets, institutions and the whole economy
concept explainers coming
This map lays out economics as a clickable knowledge tree: 12 branches and 66 themes , with a plain-English explainer page for every core concept — definition, intuition, a worked example, and the misconceptions worth unlearning. Click any node, or start from the branch list below.
Economics 12 BRANCHES Micro Micro & Behavior Micro & Behavior Consumer Choice How people decide what to consume under budget constraints Production & Cost How inputs turn into output, and what that costs Markets & Competition How prices coordinate buyers and sellers Games & Strategy Decisions where the best move depends on others Information & Contracts What happens when one side knows more Market Failure Spillovers, public goods and other limits of markets Welfare & Mechanisms Designing rules so self-interest serves social goals Behavioral Economics What real, bounded, biased humans actually do Macro Macro & Money Macro & Money National Accounts Measuring GDP and linking production to income Demand & Spending Where aggregate demand comes from and why it swings Growth & Productivity What makes economies produce more per person over time Employment & Inflation Jobs, wages and the general price level Monetary Policy How central banks steer interest rates and credit Fiscal Policy & Stability Government spending, taxes and stabilization Money & Banking What money is, and how banks create it Cycles & Macro Finance Booms, busts and the financial system in between Methods Econometrics & Methods Econometrics & Methods Data & Measurement Turning concepts into observable indicators Statistical Inference Quantifying uncertainty in estimates Regression & Panel Conditional relationships and cross-unit comparisons Causal Identification Separating treatment effects from selection Structural Estimation Fitting behavioral models to counterfactual questions Finance Financial Economics Financial Economics Asset Pricing Linking risk and return across assets Portfolio & Investment Allocating wealth across risky assets Corporate Finance How firms fund projects and govern capital Financial Intermediation Banks and funds that connect savers and borrowers Derivatives & Insurance Contracting risk itself Markets & Trading How information enters prices Household Finance & Stability Mortgages, savings and systemic risk Intl International Economics International Economics Trade Foundations Gains from trade and the division of labor Trade Policy Tariffs, quotas and market access Exchange Rates Currency prices and cross-border purchasing power Cross-Border Capital International investment and adjustment risk Global Value Chains How production spans borders Public Public & Political Economy Public & Political Economy Taxation Who bears the burden and how behavior responds Public Expenditure Evaluating public services and investment Redistribution & Insurance Transfers and social risk sharing Collective Decision Voting, organizations and political incentives Law & Economics How legal rules shape incentives Health Economics Medical care, insurance and health gaps Labor Labor & Population Labor & Population Labor Supply Choosing work, hours and family arrangements Matching & Wages Who gets which job, at what pay Skills & Education Human capital and the return to schooling Population & Family Fertility, aging and generational links Firm Industry & the Firm Industry & the Firm Market Structure Concentration, entry barriers and incumbents Price & Product Competition How firms differentiate to win customers Competition Policy & Regulation Antitrust, mergers and rules of the game Firm Boundaries Make, buy or integrate Platforms & Digital Markets Network effects, data and governance Dev Development & Innovation Development & Innovation Growth Theory Explaining capital, knowledge and productivity growth Development & Poverty Living standards, capabilities and opportunity Innovation Economics Where new ideas come from and how they pay Technology Diffusion How new tech spreads and reshapes structure Structural Transformation Shifts across sectors, cities and industries Cities Cities & Space Cities & Space Location & Agglomeration Why people and firms pick where to settle Housing & Land Construction, tenure and land-use rules Transport & Commuting Travel costs, networks and congestion Spatial Links Trade across regions, networks and spillovers Env Environment, Resources & Agriculture Environment, Resources & Agriculture Environment & Markets Pricing pollution and other spillovers Climate Economics Climate risk, mitigation and adaptation Natural Resources Stocks, renewal and depletion choices Agriculture & Rural Land, farmers, technology and markets History Thought, Institutions & History Thought, Institutions & History Classical Economics Division of labor, exchange and accumulation Keynes & Macro Thought Demand, money and macro stabilization ideas Marxist Economics Labor, capital and production relations Institutions & Organizations Property rights, contracts and institutional change Economic History Long-run change measured with evidence Click any node to open its branch or theme The 12 branches
Micro & Behavior From personal choices to market order 8 themes Macro & Money Households, firms, government and finance in one economy 8 themes Econometrics & Methods Turning curiosity into observable numbers 5 themes Financial Economics How funds are allocated and risk is priced 7 themes International Economics Trade, exchange rates and global value chains 5 themes Public & Political Economy Taxes, spending, votes and rules 6 themes Labor & Population Wages, jobs, skills and generations 4 themes Industry & the Firm Firms, competition and platforms 5 themes Development & Innovation Long-run growth and the sources of prosperity 5 themes Cities & Space Why activity clusters where it does 4 themes Environment, Resources & Agriculture Climate, energy, land and food 4 themes Thought, Institutions & History How economic thinking evolved 5 themes