The best Political Economy newsletters

Essays on the political economy and geopolitics of advanced AI, covering industrial strategy for middle powers, government oversight of frontier labs, and the policy implications of datacenter buildouts. Readers get original argument and forward-looking policy proposals rather than news roundups.

Consensus Drift analyzes how government decisions shape the politics and political economy of the digital stack, with recent issues covering AI kill switch legislation, federal influence on frontier model release timing, and European tech sovereignty. Readers get policy-focused analysis grounded in specific bills, executive orders, and international relations scholarship.

Grace Blakeley writes long-form political economy critiques of capitalism, covering topics such as sportswashing and Manchester City's financial doping, and global financial imbalances and their links to crises. Readers get sharp, opinionated analysis that connects specific news events to broader structural arguments about power and democracy.

Economist Brad DeLong posts commentary and crossposts on economic history, political economy, and current topics such as AI spending and gender history. Readers get an opinionated academic perspective that links to and reacts to other writers' work.

Internet Exchange is a newsletter examining digital justice and technology through feminist and political-economy lenses, covering encryption policy, digital public infrastructure and its governance. Recent issues offer essays and analysis on how state-run digital systems in Brazil and India distribute power, alongside reporting on global encryption laws.

Commentary on African political economy, foreign affairs and current events, mixing data from sources like the IMF, Moody's and Bloomberg with the author's own interpretation. Issues cover investment risk perceptions, conflict in Ethiopia, and occasional posts linking to podcast appearances.

The Catch critiques Canadian news media coverage from an anti-capitalist perspective, mixing written media criticism with podcast interviews of journalists and authors. Issues include sourced analysis of coverage of Palestine activism, Alberta politics and social media's role in news.

Long-form essays on China's political economy, economic data, foreign policy and classical Chinese culture. Readers get a single author's argumentative perspective that challenges common Western narratives about China, supported by historical context and some data.

Advocacy newsletter promoting election reform, including STAR voting and the Montana Plan to limit corporate campaign spending, alongside economic proposals like a graduated corporate income tax. It argues that pro-life and pro-choice voters should cooperate on economic issues.

Value Added is a newsletter by JS Tan on the political economy of innovation, focused on the tech industry, labor and class struggle in Silicon Valley. The sampled issues mainly promote the author's book Against Tech Oligarchy and its tour events.