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Political economy is an interdisciplinary social
science, and an interdisciplinary approach within various social sciences. It is most commonly used to refer to
interdisciplinary studies that draw on economics, law and political science in order to understand how political institutions and
the political environment influence market behavior. Within political science, the term refers to liberal, realist and Marxian
theories concerning the relationship between economic and political power among states. This is also of concern to students of
economic history and institutional economics; nevertheless, within economics the term is more closely associated with Game theory. "International political economy" is a branch of economics that is
concerned with international trade and finance, and state policies that affect international trade such as monetary and fiscal
policy. Others, especially anthropologists, sociologists, and geographers use "political economy" to refer to neo-Marxian
approaches to development and underdevelopment set forth by Andre Gunder Frank and Immanuel Wallerstein.
History of the term
The term political economy originally meant the study of the conditions that determined the relative wealth or poverty of
polities (e.g. nation-states). The term was first widely used in the 18th Century by philosophers such as the physiocrats and Adam Smith.
In the 19th century laissez-faire theorists argued that the state should not regulate the market; that politics and markets
operated according to different principles; and that political economy should be replaced by two separate disciplines, Political science and Economics. Around 1870 neoclassical
economists such as Alfred Marshall began using the term
economics instead of "political economy." Institutions which taught politics and economics jointly, such as Oxford
University, did not adopt this terminological preference and appointed the mathematical economist Francis Edgeworth to the Drummond Chair of Political Economy in 1891.
The term "liberal" during the 18th and 19th Centuries meant removal of barriers to trade and economic activity. This ideas
such as reduction of tariffs, standardized systems of weights and measurements, such as the metric system, central banking and the establishment of a gold standard to facilitate trade. These theories were part of the move to the first age of Globalization based on the theory of comparative advantage put forward by
Riccardo. For those that Macroeconomics, the term "classical liberal" refers to the Austrian School and an adherence to laissez-faire liberalism. This term had fallen out of use before 1930,
and was being called "conservative" by the first decade of the 20th century in both the UK and US, but remained in use in
continental Europe and in Latin America, where the term "liberalism" is still often used in this sense.
At the same time the theory of communism developed, which stated that the
market could not correctly allocate resources without producing unsustainable misery, and would eventually produce catastrophic
collapse. The most important thinker in this school is Karl Marx. Marx regarded
himself as being in the tradition of Adam Smith, focusing on the labor theory of value and on structures of production and the struggle to control those structures of
production.
Political Economy remained in use for the study of economies seen through the lens of government action, even though many
economists study the effects of government.
The scope of political economy
Political economy is centrally focused on the development of the polity. It pays particular attention to whether the polity is
running a surplus or a deficit, since in
the view of political economy, any deficit must be met by selling assets, such as gold or other capital, to other polities - or
by some form of borrowing or externalization.
Political economy, then, studies the mechanism of human activity in organizing material, and the mechanism of distributing the
surplus or deficit that is the result of that activity. Note the difference between this paradigm and that of economics which sees human wants as unlimited, resources as generically scarce, historical context as not particularly important, and income distribution issues as
less important than efficiency and growth. While for some there is no difference between the two terms, for others the difference
is one of basic method. Economics studies trade offs through measurable values, where as political economy is seen as focusing on
structural relationships. However, there is no generally accepted distinction between these terms, but instead they are used on a
case by case basis.
Central concepts of political economy
Political economy studies the means of production, specifically capital, and how this manifests itself in economic activity.
Where as economics focuses on price, and sees production and consumption as "effects" on price - political economy sees economics
as a manifestation of underlying reality which is effected by policy and law. The
division into "value in use" and "value in exchange" makes a clear distinction between what would now be called "value" and
"price" or "capital value" and "commodity value", in contrast to the denial of intrinsic values separate from prices in, for
example, neoclassical economics.
In political economy labor is used to mean human activity which produces change, and
capital the means by which the change from that labor is
made greater. The results of labor are commodities which are exchanged, and consumed, which leads to
the problem of disposal of the results of
consumption.
Private exchange occurs in the market, and is based on a legal framework of possession and title, this is also called the
private sector. Government exchange occurs through politics, and influences market decisions through policy. The government as a player in the
market economy is called the public sector.
Political economy in its normative form focuses on the necessities of
production, exchange, consumption and disposal, referred to as infrastructure. In its descriptive form it focuses on the classification and detailing of the workings of
production, for example as in David Ricardo in [On
the Principles of Political Economy ]
Political economy, because it is concerned with a view of underlying reality is often required to be multi-disciplinary in its
approach.
Production
In political economy production refers to the use of labor, with the aid of capital, to create a determinate and recognizable
thing which has use, or utility (see Utilitarianism). Studying the
relationship of production is crucial to political economy, since economics only recognizes general demand, while production is
often bottlenecked by specific resources, and political activity is often centered around securing of resources perceived to be
creating a bottleneck.
Political economy views production as the central activity of a political economy, and views the labor available as the
ultimate bottleneck for state activity. The polity must supply its needs from its available stock of labor, and thus must have
sufficient capital available to allow that labor to be sufficient. Thus the basic equation of political economy may be phrased
as:
Labor involves not only time in the abstract sense, but the realities of human beings, both as social and economic beings. The
basic formula of political economy was described by Adam Smith in his "Wealth of Nations":
capital(labor) - investment - consumption = surplus/deficit
Capital is the function, into which is put labor. Investment is the amount spent developing the stock of capital, and
consumption is the use of utility. A polity which has a surplus is then able to buy assets or capital from abroad, or increase
investment or consumption. A polity where investment and consumption taken together are greater than the production will run a
deficit, and must borrow or sell assets to make up the difference.
The study of production then focuses on how capital interacts with labor, in the broad, rather than narrow sense. This is
because labor must, to make use of capital, have the necessary skills and social infrastructure. In Marxian terms, social infrastructure is referred to as consciousness and societies with sufficient social infrastructure to produce what
they consume and control their own capital are said to have the "objective" basis for production.
Capital
Capital may be said to be any tool which increases the ability of labor to organize material into usable form. Physical Capital refers to
tangible objects which, when employed, allow greater production. Intellectual Capital
refers to concepts, ideas, designs, theories and information which allows an individual act with greater effectiveness. Physical
capital implies an intellectual capital required to use it. Human capital
can be described as the readiness of labor to use capital, and includes education, social norms, ethical understanding, networks
of relationship and communication, health and general well being.
Capital can be for postive production, but, in political economic terms, weapons are also capital. States pursue political
economy, in no small degree, to be able to produce the capital of projecting power and force. Often the projection of force is to
acquire resources required for production, or the opening of labor to be utilized in production, or to open markets for the
results of national production.
Transportation
Labor and resources need to be able to get to capital, and commodities need to be moved to where they can be exchanged and
consumed. This creates the need for transportation - of people, things and information.
The need to move labor and resources to within range of capital is seen in the creation of transportation grids, such as trains and roads. The need to coordinate production is seen in the
creation of communication grids.
Exchange
From the view of political economy, exchange is the process where the producers of commodity or investment exchange with
consumers. Each producer is then a consumer, and each consumer is a producer. The market provides a mechanism for exchange, and money provides a medium of exchange. Consequently, the dynamics of monetary exchange are
a central focus of much of political economy.
The infrastructure of exchange determines the possible range of market possibilities. Political economy views the long term of
economic activity as the successive creation of political capital
sufficient to manage the range of monetary exchange required by the society. In simple terms, the money is a commodity which a
society produces, and in order to function, the money it produces must be capable of sustaining the market which the society uses. Adam Smith enumerates early in Wealth of Nations a list of requirements for the functioning of a market, which include stability of
exchange and expected rates of profit in various enterprises.
The mechanisms of exchange are generally studied through a framework rooted in economics.
Consumption
Consumption is the return of material organized by production back to a state of being unusable. Consumption is based on the
utility of that which was consumed, and is the goal or purpose that people seek to
attain.
Disposal
Disposal is the least glamorous area of political economics, but in many respects the most vital. People produce waste. Waste,
if allowed to accumulate, creates disease and other undesirable effects. Providing the infrastructure of removing that waste, or
neutralizing its harmful effects, is a large fraction of the history of urban development. As Fiorella
LaGuardia famously remarked "there is no Republican or Democratic way to collect the trash on time".
Sewage systems, garbage collection, clean air laws and recycling are all results of the need to dispose of after effects, and
take up a significant fraction of the political life of most localities. On the scale of political economy, wastes produced often
require more space or expertise than can be managed locally.
Disciplines which relate to political economy
Because political economy is not a unified discipline, there are a variety of studies that use the term which have overlapping
subject mater, but radically different viewpoints.
Sociology is the study of the effects of involvement in society on individuals
as members groups, and how this changes their ability to function. Many sociologists begin from a framework of production
determining relationship drawn from Karl Marx.
Anthropology often studies political economy by studying the
relationship between the world capitalist system and local cultures.
Psychology is frequently the fulcrum around which political economy centers,
in that it deals with decision making, not as being a black box whose effects are seen only in price decisions, but as being a
source of study, and therefore the assumptions in a model of political economy.
History since it documents change over time, is often used as a means of arguing
in political economy, and often historical works have a framework of political economy which they assume or argue as the basis
for the narrative structure.
Economics, because it studies activity and price relationships and the effects
of scarcity, grew out of political economy. It is often used in political economy to argue policy effects and study the
results of actions, and it is often in opposition to political economy, in that many, if not most, practicing economists
see political economy as being a hindrance to the operation of economic forces. From the point of view of political economy,
economics is a branch of the entire study, and economics has, at its basis, a theory of political economy which should be open to
examination.
Law since it concerns the creation of policy, or the mediation of policy ends through
political acts which have specific individual results, is seen, in political economy, as both political capital and social
infrastructure, on one hand - and as the result of the sociology of a society on the other.
Ecology is often involved in political economy, because human activity is one of
the single largest effects on the environment, and because it is the suitability of the environment for human beings which is one
of the central concerns of most human beings. The ecological effects of economic activity on the environment have spured the
creation of a great deal of research studying means of changing the incentives balance of the market economy. This work is
particularly controversial in its interaction with economics, since it questions the fundamental econometric assumptions of market economics and their basic validity. See the commons.
General paradigms of political economy
Political economists are divided over the nature of two paradigms: the paradigm of distribution, and the paradigm of
production. At the extremes they are related, however, there are a vast number of cases of individuals accepting almost
diametrically opposite views on these two paradigms in the same context.
Paradigms of distribution
Societies produce more than isolated individuals, and labor with the aid of capital produces more than labor alone. Societies
also generate more waste, and capital makes demands for investment and organization. The first can be referred to as the social surplus and capital surplus respectively, and
the second social costs and
capital
requirements. One of the most important social costs is war. Indeed the difference between political economy and economics is
that, in economics, war is a temporarily alteration in price variation, the old joke being that "World War III, should it come,
will be noted in two sentences in the Wall Street Journal, with an article inside on its effect on soybean futures."
The paradigms of political economy may be classified based on their view of distributing the social costs and benefits, and
the capital costs and benefits.
Libertarianism: Libertarianism denies that there is
any significant difference between capital surplus and social surplus: all improvements to productivity are capital surplus and
belong to the individual. Libertarianism contends that by paying for inputs, an individual has paid for the social cost of their
activity, and that to avoid disutility, individuals will rationally trade effects of economic activity that are adverse.
Libertarians, therefore, generally believe in an absolute standard of value, generally the gold standard. Libertarians point to
John Locke, Thomas
Jefferson, Adam Smith and Ralph Waldo Emerson as antecedents, and argue that they are merely continuing "classical liberalism".
In the libertarian framework, since there is no social surplus, any attempt to distribute is, by definition "socialism" - that
is, that economics is separate from the political sphere. (See laissez-faire)
Libertarianism's first major school of thought was the Austrian
School of economists, and found expression in laissez-faire
economics. Libertarians may be said to be economic and social extreme individualists. Important, or at least widely cited,
thinkers in Libertarian thought include Ayn Rand, Hayek and Ludwig_von_Mises
Liberalism: Liberalism believes that capital surplus should
accrue to the individual, but that social surplus and cost should be distributed as widely as feasible within the context of
maintaining the individuals expectation to the surplus of their own efforts. Liberals therefore believe in state intervention in
political economy to measure and distribute social costs and benefits. Many thinkers are, therefore, held in common between
libertarianism and liberalism - since when the social surplus is perceived of as being low, or in particular areas, there is
nothing to distribute. Liberalism traces its roots to Machiavelli and his
views on the importance of state power in growth, and continues forward through humanism. Liberals also agree with Conservatives about the need to protect against the ill effects of social
disorganization, even if the manner of doing so differs.
Liberalism sees the expansion of the rights of the individual in the philosophy of Rousseau and Jefferson as being the entitlement to a
certain reasonable standard of life necessary to participate in society. From the pragmatic viewpoint, the necessity of human
capital sufficient to engage in the full range of production.
Liberalism has been propounded by such thinkers as John Dewey, John Rawls, Isaiah Berlin
economists such as John Maynard Keynes and educators such as
Mortimer Adler.
Conservatism:Conservatism believes that capital surplus
accrues to the individual, and that there is little or no social surplus, but that there are significant social costs, which must
be distributed across the society. Examples of this include military service, standards of personal morality and charity.
Conservative thought became established in English philosophy with the work of Thomas Hobbes, but became a political doctrine with Edmund
Burke. Conservatism in the modern period looks to libertarian economic thinkers, but toward the absolute need for social
structure enforced by normative institutions such as religion and nationalism. Prominent modern schools of Conservative include the work of Leo Strauss in the USA
Socialism: Socialism believes that the ratio of capital
surplus to social surplus is very low, that most of the surplus involved in human production is predicated on being a member of
society, and therefore social control of the means of production, and the profits, should be distributed first to provide
benefits to all members of a society.
Socialism evolved from critiques of human misery in the late 18th century such as the political philosopher Fourier. In the view of socialists, the market could never efficiently distribute the social
surplus, and private ownership merely substituted one form of tyranny for another. In the present many "Labour" parties believe
in some form of socialism which requires that corporations and major public works be guided by political as well as economic
factors.
Communism: Communism believes that there is no difference
between capital surplus and social surplus, but, in the reverse of the libertarian viewpoint, it believes that all surplus is
socially created. The most prominent communist thinker was Karl Marx, who called
himself a "scientific socialist". There is a long tradition of using the word "socialism" as a synonym for "communism".
Paradigms of production
Work is done, however, the ability of some individuals to create capital or perform work with a far greater impact on society
than others creates the question of what basis production should be measured.
Individualism: Individualist paradigms state that the single person, with his or her will, desires and
decisions is the basis of production, and that only individual accomplishment and happiness matter. Society is an instrument in
so far as it produces individual happiness or utility.
Communitarianism:Communitarian paradigms state that it is the action of a group, with particular exceptional
individuals, which produces. Communitarian thinkers work in concepts such as inter-subjectivity and the
dynamics of group production. The individual, within a community, is considered to be the basic unit.
Collectivism: Collectivist paradigms state that it is impossible to show with any degree of precision what
the contribution of an individual is, and all artifacts and accomplishments must be regarded as the result of a group effort.
These two questions, generally move in this same direction, however this is far from universally the case. It is entirely
possible, for example, to take the stance of being an individualist, and then conclude that individuals will be happiest in a
communist society.
The market
One of the central conflicts in political economy is, of course, the role and functioning of the market economy in society. It
is here where the broad range of paradigmatic assumptions collide, and on particular issues, individuals and groups with widely
differing views will find common intellectual and practical political cause. In the political world, the fulcrum is on the
ownership of capital surplus and production.
In the context of political economy, capitalism takes on a very broad meaning: the focus of the state on the maintaining and
creating of capital and the means of its utilization. Many paradigms use the word in a much narrower context to mean private
ownership and the self-justifying results of market operation, and deny that any other use of the word is appropriate, see
Libertarianism. However, the vast majority of governing and major
opposition parties in the industrialized world see the maintaining of capital capability as an area for legitimate state
interest, and therefore maintain that government intervention in the market to prevent its disintegration, and even to promote
certain aspects of its advancement is a proper use of state power.
Socialism, viewed as a system of political economy, states that the forms of production on which labor is dependent to sell to
should be maintained, or overseen, by political power, and generally state power. This brings socialism into conflict with many
liberal ideologies, which believe that production for capital profit is best left in private hands. See Labour Party for further details of hybrids of market-socialism.
Communism sees the necessity control of all surplus generating activity. Communist parties have existed in most industrialized
nations, and communist revolutionary movements are still seen in some nations today. Within the paradigm of communism there are a
host of particular theories. Not all Marxian theories are communist, and not all communists are necessarily Marxian in their
orientation.
See also
External links
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