Development and the Revival of Political Economy

Abstract:

Ha-Joon Chang argues that there has been a switch in development thinking from a “productionist” view, in which development is conceptualized in terms of the productive structures of the economy, to “neoliberal” and “humanistic” views of development, where in the humanistic view development is studied in terms of its impact on human well-being. Chang calls for a new developmentalism that integrates both the productionist and the humanistic view, within an institutionalist approach. Here I address the prospects for a synthesis between productionist and humanistic views drawing on the idea of a revival of political economy developed at Cambridge, UK, especially on the contributions of Joan Robinson, Piero Sraffa, and others. More specifically, I argue that Celso Furtado's suggestion of applying the theoretical framework that underpins this revival of political economy to the study of development can help achieving a fruitful synthesis between productionist and humanistic approaches to development, while also drawing on elements from post Keynesianism and original institutionalism.

Keywords::

• development
• well-being
• production
• culture
• institutions

JEL Classification Codes::

• B52
• I31
• O10

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nuno Ornelas Martins

Nuno Ornelas Martins is Professor of History of Economic Thought at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Católica Porto Business School and CEGE in Porto, Portugal. The author expresses appreciation for most helpful comments on an earlier draft. He is most thankful to João Paiva Silva, Liliana Fernandes, Marisa Tavares, and the anonymous referees and editors of this journal.