Mission Statement
Established in memory of Charles H. Murphy, Sr. (1870-1954), and inspired by the vision of Charles H. Murphy, Jr. (1920-2002), the Murphy Institute exists to help Tulane faculty and students understand economic, moral, and political 
problems we all face and think about. More important, it exists to help us understand how these problems have come to be so closely interconnected.
Within this broad purpose, the Murphy Institute supports a number of academic programs in the fields of political economy and ethics. Since 1984, it has sponsored a highly acclaimed undergraduate program in political economy which brings together economists, historians, philosophers, and political scientists committed to moving beyond traditional boundaries of their disciplines in a common search for new insights and new ways of studying the interconnections of politics and economics.
To enrich teaching and research in political economy, the Murphy Institute also hosts conferences, seminars, and lectures by prominent public figures and visiting scholars. With Cambridge University Press, it sponsors “Murphy Institute Studies in Political Economy,” a series of occasional volumes comprising original essays by leading scholars in the United States and other countries. With Sage Publications, the Murphy Institute also sponsors PPE: A Journal of Politics, Philosophy & Economics. Published three times annually, PPE is a forum for scholarly interchange of concepts and methods among political scientists, philosophers, and economists interested in evaluating political economic institutions and practices.
In 2001, the Murphy Institute broadened its operations to establish the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, which offers both Visiting Faculty Fellowships and Graduate Prize Fellowships. The idea driving the Center is that Tulane should have a place where faculty, students, and visitors can broadly examine critical issues of right and wrong, justice and injustice, citizenship and community, and the ethics of the professions. The Center’s annual Faculty Seminar provides a setting in which Faculty Fellows, Tulane faculty, and visiting scholars present new scholarship-in-progress.