The Department of Political Economy includes twenty four members: fifteen holders of a PhD in Economics, three with a PhD in Law and another six people who help with the teaching in the field of Law.

These members develop their activity in the following areas:

Political Economy, including traditional areas of Economics with special emphasis on Labour Economics, Urban Economics, Public Economics, the economics of the cultural sector, Economics of Innovation and Behavioural Economics; there is also a strong tradition in the History of Economic Thought and on the Methodology of Science;

Development Studies, dealing with issues like education, ethics, social inclusion, the financial sector, public policies, land use and rural development, regional studies, country studies, international economic relations and globalization;

Law, in the following sub-areas: commercial, labour, administrative, consumer rights, advertising, transportation, banking, informatics and the internet, constitutional, European Law, regulation and economic law, economic analysis of the law and legal framework governing scientific activity.

The department favours a strong link between theory and practice, i.e., that research and teaching should be based on a systematic reference to both economic reality and legal framework.

The department promotes scientific research and its dissemination both at the national and international levels. Most department members are also members of the research centre Dinâmia-CET - Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território. This research centre has been rated Excelent by the Foundation for Science and Technology, a government body.

Department members teach mainly in the First Degree in Economics and in six Master’s programmes of ISCTE–IUL.