I examine first how radical political economy (RPE) has evolved over the last five decades, as the overall political climate in the United States has shifted increasingly to the right. I explore how this political shift, as well as new developments within mainstream economics, have altered the focus of much of RPE and the activities of many of its practitioners. I then offer suggestions to radical political economists as to the future orientation of RPE.Read rest here (subscription required).
And for other posts on the nature & evolution of radical political economy, see here & here.
The picture above isn't of the American RPE movement, but rather of the parallel struggle for political economy at the University of Sydney in Australia - one that was largely successful, I might add, if isolated. A few heterodox economists, including Post-Keynesians such as Professors Steve Keen and Rod O'Donnell, as well as Marxists like Professor Rick Kuhn, cut their teeth as student activists in the Political Economy Students Society.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like to keep up with this movement, which has now been institutionalised as the uniquely heterodox Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, they have recently started a blog, which I've linked below (sorry about the shameless plugging!):
http://ppesydney.net/home/