Political Economy: The Contest of Economic Ideas

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction
Review: This is a very good introduction to the discipline of political economy (broadly defined).

The book takes a 'pluralist' approach in the sense that it gives fairly even quantities of space to distinct 'schools' of thought in political economy (cum economics), and seeks to fairly outline the core concepts and arguments of each school. This is not to say the book is 'relativistic' or 'intellectually permissive' - it does give over space to well-established criticisms of each school. That said, it simultaneously extends the principle of intellectual charity to each of them. Prima facie, there is no 'axe-grinding' going on here.

The book seems to be pitched at university students (and perhaps advanced high school students) who have had little or no contact with political economy as an academic discipline before. As such, it has the great virtue of being very clearly written in a non-technical, relatively jargon-free style.

I would recommend this book to anyone studying political economy (compulsory reading), political science (compulsory reading), sociology (compulsory reading), economics (complementary reading), philosophy (bed-time reading).