The Theory of Political and Social Economics: Beyond the Neoclassical Perspective

In the past twenty-five or thirty years interest has grown again among economists and others in the application of economic analysis to topics heretofore considered beyond the scope of positive economics. I call the results of this application “political and social economics†. Two problems have arisen in that process. The first is how to adapt the theory to new situations where the original set of assumptions may fail to apply. This paper argues that we must overcome that reluctance, and it provides a framework for keeping track of and reexamining assumptions as necessary when doing interdisciplinary work. The second problem is how to take a theory designed for one discipline and turn it into something intelligible to practitioners of another. This paper argues that systems science is the appropriate way to reformulate economic theory so it can fit into a broader scheme of social science theory.