The Future for Political Economy: Towards Unity in Diversity?

ABSTRACT

The future for political economists depends not only on their engagement in intellectual critique and the provision of alternatives to mainstream economics: it also requires attention to vision, strategy, and organisation. Each of these aspects is explored in this article, with the overall aim of developing a systematic approach to advancing political economy during the next few decades. It posits a shared commitment to pluralism as the key to increasing unity among political economists. It also emphasises the importance of the material conditions that shape opportunities for political economists to have broader influence.

KEYWORDS:

• Political economy
• critique
• vision
• strategy
• organization
• pluralism
• activism

JEL CODES:

• B50
• B51
• B52
• A11
• A12
• P10

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Challenging this presumption, empirical studies showing that relatively equitable nations often have better macroeconomic performance have emanated during the last decade from applied economists in normally conservative institutions like the IMF (e.g., Ostry, Berg, and Tsangaridis 2014).

2 The Handbook of Alternative Theories in Political Economy (Edward Elgar, forthcoming), currently being compiled by the author in conjunction with David Primrose and Tim Thornton, will provide a comprehensive guide to these and other significant analytical currents. My thanks to David and Tim for their invaluable feedback on an early draft of this article and to the journal’s referees for insightful comments that led to further major revision.