Introduction to Political Economy

Broadly speaking, Political Economy is the study of the interaction between the economy and the political system. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this field, it is not surprising that there is an extremely wide array of schools (Liberal, Marxist, Statist, ...), approaches (individualist, structuralist, functionalist, institutionalist, ...), methodologies (formal/mathematical, quantitative/econometric, historical, ...), et cetera. There are at least equally many ways to organize an introductory course on this topic: we could attempt a survey, touching briefly on each of the multitude of combinations implied by the list above; we could examine a variety of issues from any one these; or we can take some middle approach. We will take a middle approach.