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This volume offers an original perspective on the questions the great economists have asked and looks at their significance for todays world. Written in a provocative and accessible style, it examines how the diverse traditions of political economy have conceptualised economic issues, events and theory. Going beyond the orthodoxies of mainstream economics it shows the relevance of political economy to the debates on the economic meaning of our times. Reconstructing Political Economy is a timely and thought-provoking contribution to a political economy for our time. In this light it offers fresh insights into such issues as modern theories of growth, the historic relations between state and market and the significance of globalisation for modern societies.
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Reconstructing Political Economy Reconstructing Political Economy offers an original perspective on the questions the great economists have asked and looks at their significance for today’s world. Written in a provocative and accessible style, it examines how the diverse traditions of political economy have conceptualized economic issues, events and theory. Going beyond the orthodoxies of mainstream economics, it shows the relevance of political economy to debates on the economic meaning today. This book is a timely and thought provoking contribution to a political economy for our time. In this light, it offers fresh insights into such issues as modern theories of growth, the historic relations between state and market, and the significance of globalization for modern societies. Reconstructing Political Economy will be of great interest to economists, political scientists, and historians of economic thought. William K.Tabb is Professor of Economics and Political Science at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of The Japanese System: Cultural Economy and Economic Transformation, The Political Economy of the Black Ghetto; and co-editor of Instability and Change in the World Economy. Contemporary Political Economy series Edited by Jonathan Michie, Birkbeck College, University of London Reconstructing Political Economy The great divide in economic thought William K.Tabb London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © 1999 William K.Tabb All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Tabb, William K. Reconstructing political economy: the great divide in economic thought/William K.Tabb. p. cm. —(Contemporary political economy series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-20762-2 (hardbound: alk. paper). — ISBN 0-415-20763-0 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Economics. 2. Economics—History. I. Title. II. Series. HB171.5.T13 1999 330–dc2 ISBN 0-415-20762-2 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-20763-0 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-04931-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20698-3 (Glassbook Format) 198–47961 CIP The Econ tribe occupies a vast territory within the far North. Their land appears bleak and dismal to the outsider, and travelling through it makes rough sledding; but the Econ, through a long period of adoption, have learned to wrest a living of sorts from it. They are not without some