Political Economy as a Methodological Approach

Abstract

The term ‘political economy’ has been, and still is, applied in a variety of ways. The case is made here for understanding it in terms of a common philosophical/methodological approach to economics. It can therefore encompass a range of bodies of theory that apply some form of open-system approach. The sociological dimension is also considered with respect to the relative power of different approaches within the discipline. The scope for enhancing the influence of the political economy approach is analysed in Kuhnian terms, requiring attention to the establishment of a credible alternative to the mainstream and to facilitating the transition to such an alternative, including the reform of economics education. This strategy reflects an application at a range of levels of the pluralism of the political economy approach.

Keywords:

• Political economy
• economics
• heterodox economics
• methodology

JEL CODES:

• A10
• A12
• A13
• B00
• B40
• B50

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

2 The nature of the overlap between political economy and heterodox economics is an important question in itself, which we do not pursue here. Nevertheless Mearman’s framework can be applied readily to political economy.

3 Neo-Austrians are not included in Clark’s (1999) listing of schools of thought in political economy.

4 This is controversial (Dow 2004; Lawson 2004). Lawson (2003) emphasises the commonality of open-system ontology and open-system epistemology among non-mainstream schools of thought, referring to the differences between non-neoclassical schools of thought as arising from differences in ‘commitment’.

5 Keynes deliberately embraced ambiguity as contributing to the art of judgement (Davis 1999), where ambiguity involves scope for paradox in meaning; in contrast, Lucas (1980) castigates Keynes for his ‘purple prose’.

6 For example, Zuckerberg (2020) has pleaded for government regulation of social media.