ABSTRACT
Elements of political economy have continued to exist and sometimes flourish alongside the dominant paradigm of neoclassical economics. However, neoclassical pure economists dominate the conceptual definition of the field. Private power derives from control over the economic resources of a society, including credit. Corporatist political economy differs from both liberal and conservative economics in seeing the source of economic instability within the competitive process itself. In neoclassical economics, free competition leads to stability. Neoclassical economics defines the marginal product of a factor of production, such as capital, as the output it would produce if it alone were increased while all other factors of production are held constant. This concept was applied in classical political economy only to land and natural resources. Processes involving power and strategic intent cannot possibly be treated scientifically if we treat them as if they were as random and non-intentional as subatomic particles.
