Political Economy

Despina Alexiadou

Political economy can be understood in numerous ways, depending on the discipline of study. Economists and, more recently, some political scientists define political economy as the study of politics using economics. Yet within political science, it is more commonly understood as the study of the relationship between states and markets. The two approaches are not conflicting but can be quite dissimilar. Here, political economy is understood as the study of the interdependency of economics and politics, as this is the approach used by the majority of political scientists. This entry emphasizes the interdependency of politics and economics and its impact on several aspects of political performance. How economics and politics determine each other has been a driving question in political economy for centuries. According to John Roemer, Adam Smith was well aware of the mutual interdependency of economics and politics. In The Wealth of Nations , he discusses how politically ...

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