ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a historical overview of how political economy has been envisaged by various thinkers over time. It describes the impact of debates and positioning with regard to political economy on the social sciences in general and political science and economics in particular and goes on to discuss a number of ideas that shape our thinking about important issues and problems in the contemporary world. The origins of political economy date to the late eighteenth century and to the writings of the important classical political economists, including not only Karl Marx but also David Ricardo and Adam Smith. Most historians of political economy date its origins to petty commodity production, under which money appeared, prices fluctuated, some producers fell into debt, and primitive communal relations began to dissolve. The chapter turns next to the methods employed by a comparative political economy and finally to the results of important comparative studies in a variety of theoretical frameworks.
