Tag: definition

Research by political economists is conducted in order to determine how public policy influences behavior, productivity, and trade. Much of their study helps them establish how money and power are distributed between people and different groups. Their study generally involves the examination of how public policy, the political situation, and political institutions impact a country’s economic standing and future through a sociological, political, and economic lens.

During the early period of the Cold War, political scientists emphasized the realist, or power politics, dimension of U.S.–Soviet relations, while economists tended to focus on the Bretton Woods system of the international economy—that is, the institutions and rules that beginning in 1945 governed much of the international economy. During the Vietnam War, however, a growing decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar and large deficits for the United States in its balance of trade and payments weakened the ability of the United … Read More

As in the case of tax policy, for example, government policies are assumed to support the interests of the rich or elites over those of the masses. Structural reforms, animal spirits, and monetary policies’,European Economic Review, 124. Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians. Social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that examine society and how people interact and develop as a culture. Conflict theory states that society is in a constant state of conflict due to competition for limited resources. Socialism is an economic and political system based on public or collective ownership of the means of production that emphasizes economic equality.

Smith was a philosopher, economist, and writer who is commonly referred to as the father of economics and of the political economy. He wrote about the function of a self-regulating free market in his first book, which was called “The … Read More

Although ostensibly a value-free exercise, such economic analysis often implicitly assumes that policies that maximize the benefits accruing to economic actors are also preferable from a social point of view. Political economists study how economic theories such as capitalism, socialism, and communism work in the real world. At its root, any economic theory is a methodology that is adopted as a means of directing the distribution of a finite amount of resources in a way that is beneficial for the greatest number of individuals.

Since the 1970s, for example, the relationship between the United States and China has been replete with difficulties for both countries. China consistently has sought integration into the world economy—an effort best illustrated by its successful campaign to join the World Trade Organization —but has resisted domestic political liberalization. Likewise, China’s government has faced domestic criticism not only from supporters of democracy but also from conservative … Read More

Structuralist ideas are rooted in Marxist analysis and focus on how the dominant economic structures of society affect (i.e., exploit) class interests and relations. Each of these perspectives is often applied to problems at several different levels of analysis that point to complex root causes of conflict traced to human nature , national interests , and the structure of the international system . For example, analysis of U.S. policy regarding migrants from Mexico must take into consideration patterns of trade and investment between the two countries and the domestic interests on both sides of the border. Similarly, domestic and international interests are linked by trade, finance, and other factors in the case of financial crises in developing countries such as Thailand and Argentina. The distinction between foreign and domestic becomes as uncertain as the distinction between economics and politics in a world where foreign economic crises affect domestic political and … Read More