Political Economy: History with the Politics Left Out?

In: Historical materialism: research in critical marxist theory, Band 20, Heft 3, S. 24-38

Abstract

AbstractThis paper argues that Milonakis and Fine, in their bookFrom Political Economy to Economics, offer an account of history that systematically omits discussion of how economics has been shaped by the political and social context in which it developed. This contrasts with work by intellectual historians who have argued that such factors were crucial to understanding the history of economic ideas. It is ironic given that Milonakis and Fine are criticising economists for excluding the political and the social from economics.