Political Economy

Addressing the problem of searching for mainstream and alternative paradigms as a guide for comparative political enquiry, this work in particular introduces developments that have taken place since the 1990s.

In this revised edition of the widely used and comprehensive overview of political/economic thought, political theory, sociology, and philosophy are integrated with economic analysis. Clark offers an introduction to the method and history of political economy, along with comparative studies of classical liberalism, radicalism, conservatism, and modern liberalism. Various issues such as the role of government, inflation and unemployment, poverty and inequality, and education, culture, and gender, are given a comparative analysis from the perspectives of the four major economic ideologies, and contemporary debates are traced back to their origins in the European industrialization process.

Tabb (economics and political science, Queen College and the Graduate Center of the City U. of New York) provides an account of the evolution of economic thought through analysis of the issues addressed by some of the world's famous economists and the controversies they generated, with evaluation of their present-day significance.

Tables and Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The Meaning of Political Economy What Political Economy Meant The Celebrated Masters of Political Economy Allies of Political Economy Opposition to Political Economy Part II: Political Economy and Society Money and Distress Free Trade Free Labor Epilogue Appendix Bibliography Index

The purpose of this text is to sketch an overview of major theories and concepts, to expose issues, summarize arguments and counter-arguments, and to encourage critical thinking in the recognition that mainstream ideas deserve scrutiny.

By investigating the rise and fall of post-war Keynesianism and focusing on the experience of the United States, the author adopts an interdisciplinary approach to show that economics is rooted in the flesh and blood history of social conflict.

The First and Second Industrial Revolutions were about energy: steam power revolutionized 19th-century Great Britain and electric power revolutionized 20th-century America. Yet political economy, the science of wealth born of the First Industrial Revolution, is devoid of energy, focusing instead on machinery or capital. According to basic mechanics, tools per se are not productive, as they are not source of energy. This book uses basic mechanics and thermodynamics to reexamine the rise of political economy as the science of wealth in the 19th and 20th centuries. The study shows that the failure of generations of political economists to incorporate energy into their models of production and distribution has led to the unfortunate state in which economics currently finds itself. With the inclusion of energy, important insights result. For instance, the Solow Residual in both 19th-century Great Britain and 20th-century America disappears.