I needed to clarify the manner in which the various strands of heterodox political economy could be integrated into a relatively coherent view of capitalism. I wanted a perspective that was capable of addressing most of the technical issues generally covered in a principles course, but from a more appropriate perspective. This book reflects my efforts in this regard. The title of the book requires a few words. By political economy I mean a perspective that accounts for the historically determined institutional and technological context of economic behavior.
Economic behavior is a social activity.
Additionally, it is political in the sense that economic institutions determine who gets what and why. The manner in which a society goes about producing and distributing the requisites of life is intimately tied into the value system of that society and the distribution of power that permits those values to remain in place. Thus, economic institutions are structures of power that reflect the values of those who benefit from them. It is in this sense that this book examines the political economics of capitalism. The idea is to understand the characteristic economic outcomes, the laws of motion, of capitalism as a political economic system.