One parent of a successful Oxford Economics and Management offer holder made an honest observation worth knowing before you plan your preparation: her daughter's super-curricular profile leaned almost entirely on maths competitions and Olympiads, with very little economics-specific reading, and she doesn't believe it made a decisive difference either way. That's not an argument against reading widely. It's a reminder that how much economics-specific super-curricular work matters depends heavily on which course and university you're applying to.

This guide covers what to read, watch, and do for Economics and PPE applications, and how to weigh reading against maths preparation depending on your target course.

Quick takeaways:

• Maths-heavy courses like Oxford's Economics and Management place real weight on quantitative ability, so don't let economics reading crowd out maths preparation if you're applying to one of these

• Following live economic debates and data releases builds more useful interview material than reading textbooks cover to cover

• Documentaries are a legitimate, efficient way to build broad economic literacy quickly, provided you follow up with more critical reading on anything that particularly interests you

• PPE applicants need the same approach applied across three disciplines, which means picking one live debate that touches politics, philosophy, and economics together is more efficient than covering each separately

• Official university reading lists, particularly Oxford's own economics reading and viewing suggestions, are worth using directly rather than a generic list

What Counts as an Economics Super-Curricular Activity?

An economics super-curricular activity is anything that deepens your understanding of economic theory, policy, or real-world application beyond your A-level syllabus: reading serious economic commentary, following a live policy debate, analysing a data release, or engaging critically with a documentary or book that challenges how you think about an economic question.

Does Maths Ability Matter More Than Reading for Economics?

It depends heavily on the course. Oxford's Economics and Management and similar quantitative-heavy courses place real weight on mathematical ability, and a strong UKMT or Olympiad profile can matter as much as, or more than, economics-specific reading for these courses. Straight Economics degrees, and particularly PPE, tend to weight critical reading and argument more heavily relative to raw maths ability, though a solid maths foundation still matters everywhere.

The practical takeaway: check what your target course actually emphasises before assuming reading is the only lever available. If you're strong at maths and weaker on economics-specific reading, entering maths competitions and building a smaller amount of genuinely reflected-on economics reading is a better balance than forcing a long reading list you can't discuss with real depth.

Reading and Following Economic Debates

• Oxford's own Economics Reading and Viewing Suggestions — published directly by the university's Economics Department, and useful for any UK economics application, not just Oxford, since it reflects what admissions tutors across the field consider substantive engagement.

• The Economist and Financial Times — both provide the current-affairs fluency that comes up constantly at interview, particularly if you follow one ongoing story (a specific policy debate, a market development) closely enough to discuss its arguments in depth.

• Policy papers from the Bank of England, IMF, and OECD — more accessible than they sound, and genuinely useful for grounding an opinion on monetary policy or global economic trends in something more substantial than news commentary.

• Think tank research — organisations spanning different points on the political spectrum publish accessible analysis on tax, welfare, and growth policy; reading across a couple of different perspectives on the same issue is better preparation than reading only sources that confirm what you already think.

Pro Tip: Pick one live economic debate, interest rate policy, a specific tax change, a trade dispute, and follow it for a few months rather than reading broadly across many topics once each. Depth on one live issue gives you far more to say at interview than a wide, shallow survey.

Documentaries and Videos Worth Your Time

Documentaries are a legitimate and efficient way to build broad economic literacy quickly, provided you treat them as a starting point rather than the finished activity.

• Commanding Heights — traces the rise and fall of state-controlled economies and the shift toward market-driven policy, useful grounding for understanding the Keynesianism-versus-free-market debate that underpins a lot of economic theory.

• 97% Owned — a UK-focused look at money creation, banking, and the role of central banks, directly relevant to understanding how monetary policy actually works.

• The End of Poverty? — examines the roots and persistence of global poverty, useful for development economics angles.

• The Century of the Self — traces how psychoanalytic ideas shaped modern consumer capitalism, a good angle for anyone interested in behavioural economics or the psychology behind consumer decisions.

• Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It — a solid, accessible introduction to cryptocurrency and monetary innovation, useful if you want to engage with a genuinely current monetary policy debate rather than only historical material.

• Economics Explained — an active YouTube channel producing accessible primers on global economics topics, useful for building breadth quickly between deeper reading.

Free Online Courses (MOOCs) for Economics

Several free, university-led short courses are worth working through over a summer or holiday: an introductory economic principles course, a microeconomics fundamentals course, and courses specifically covering economic inequality or the relationship between economics and politics all give you structured grounding beyond A-level content. These are widely available on Coursera and FutureLearn and typically take a few hours to a few weeks depending on depth.

Supercurriculars for PPE Specifically

PPE applicants need to demonstrate engagement across three disciplines, which makes efficiency important: rather than treating politics, philosophy, and economics as three separate reading projects, look for a single live debate that touches all three. A debate about how a government should respond to an economic crisis, for instance, involves an economic question (what policy actually works), a political question (who should have the authority to decide), and a philosophical question (what the state owes its citizens in a crisis).

For the philosophy dimension specifically, a short, accessible introduction to political philosophy gives you enough grounding to engage with these debates without needing a full university-level text. Questions like what justifies state authority, how much redistribution is fair, or where individual liberty should give way to collective interest all connect naturally to live economic and political debates, which makes them efficient to prepare alongside each other rather than as a separate reading track. For the politics dimension, following the Institute for Fiscal Studies' policy commentary alongside general political reporting builds the current-affairs fluency PPE interviews consistently draw on.

Competitions Worth Entering

Various universities and organisations run economics essay competitions each year, worth checking for since they change annually and give you an external, objective piece of work to discuss. For maths-heavy Economics and Management applications specifically, UKMT competitions and similar maths challenges carry real weight alongside or even ahead of economics-specific competitions. Entrepreneurship-style challenges, such as school-run business plan competitions, are a reasonable extracurricular addition but shouldn't be mistaken for economics-specific super-curricular evidence unless you can connect the experience to an economic concept you engaged with directly.

Common Mistakes Economics and PPE Applicants Make

• Assuming reading always matters more than maths preparation. For quantitative-heavy courses like Economics and Management, a strong maths profile can matter as much as economics reading, sometimes more.

• Reading broadly across many topics instead of following one debate in depth. A wide, shallow survey gives an interviewer far less to probe than sustained engagement with a single live issue.

• Treating documentaries as the finished activity. They're an efficient starting point, but following up with more critical reading on what interested you is what turns a documentary into genuine super-curricular evidence.

• For PPE applicants, treating the three disciplines as entirely separate reading projects. A single well-chosen debate that touches all three is a far more efficient use of limited preparation time.

• Confusing an entrepreneurship competition with economics super-curricular evidence. Running a business plan challenge is a fine extracurricular activity, but it demonstrates initiative more than economic reasoning unless you can connect it to a specific concept you applied.

If you're building this alongside personal statement preparation, our Personal Statement Builder can help you turn this reading and reflection into a coherent narrative rather than a list of activities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need A-level Economics to apply for an economics degree?

Not always, though it varies by university and course. Many economics departments accept students without A-level Economics provided they have strong maths grades, since much of the first-year content is taught from a similar starting point regardless of prior economics study. Check individual course requirements directly, since this varies more than for most subjects.

Does Oxford Economics and Management care more about maths than economics reading?

Broadly, yes, relative to a straight Economics degree elsewhere. Economics and Management places real weight on quantitative ability, and a strong maths competition profile can carry comparable or greater weight than economics-specific reading for this particular course.

What's the difference between preparing for Economics vs PPE supercurriculars?

Economics preparation can focus more narrowly on economic theory, policy, and data. PPE requires spreading engagement across politics, philosophy, and economics, which makes picking a single debate that touches all three disciplines a more efficient use of your preparation time than treating each subject separately.

Are economics documentaries a legitimate super-curricular activity?

Yes, provided you don't stop there. Documentaries are an efficient way to build broad economic literacy quickly, but following up with more critical reading or analysis on whatever specifically interested you is what turns passive viewing into genuine super-curricular evidence.

How many economics super-curricular activities do I need?

There's no fixed number. A student who has followed one live economic debate in real depth and can discuss it critically, alongside a reasonable maths foundation, is in a stronger position than one who has read widely but shallowly across many unconnected topics.