Abstract
There is no entry for political economy in the last edition (1968) of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences nor, less surprisingly, for a number of terms familiar to many readers: public choice, public goods, electoral-business cycle (or equivalent), among others. And, although many aspects of Marxism are discussed there at length, virtually no attention is given to Marx’s, or his successors’, views of government or the state and its relationship to economic systems and developments. Moreover, there is no discussion of the Keynesian view of politics, although Keynesian economics arguably dominates the thought of economic advisors to Western governments. These omissions do not reflect adversely on the generally impressive work of the encyclopedia’s authors and editors, but indicate how substantial are the problems facing those intrepid scholars who would seek a higher synthesis of politics and economics. Entire seas have been left unfished
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References
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See, for example, the essays in Henry Hazlitt, (ed.), The Critics of Keynesian Economics (New York: Van Nostrand, 1960)
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An influential statement of this position is Max Weber’s 1921 article, “Class, Status, Party,” in Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, trans, and eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1946 )
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As with Afrikaner nationalism and racism in John S. Saul and Stephen Gelb, The Crisis in South Africa: Class Defense, Class Revolution ( New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981 )
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Although there are very different understandings of the transformation rules involved. For example, contrast those of Marx with those of Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York: Harper and Bros., 1942 ), and Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism ( New York: Basic Books, 1976 )
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The assumptions, problems, and development of public choice are treated at length in Dennis C. Mueller, Public Choice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979 ). A short history by one of the founders is James M. Buchanan, The Economics of Politics ( London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1978 )
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John Burton, “Externalities, Property Rights and Public Policy,” pp. 84–7
L. L. Wade, “Public Administration, Public Choice, and the Pathos of Reform,”Review of Politics, 41 (July 1979): 344–74
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Wade, L.L. (1983). Political Economy: Problems with Paradigms. In: Wade, L.L. (eds) Political Economy. Recent Economic Thought Series, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6658-1_1
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