Review of “From Political Economy to Economics: Method, the Social and Historical Evolution of Economic Theory”

Review of Milonakis and Fine

establish a political economy that is broad based and reasonable. However, I suspect we
differ significantly about how to get there, and about how much complaining about
unfairness is helpful in achieving our desired ends. I also suspect we differ in how much
good there is in modern economics. My view is that the movement toward game theory,
the broader acceptance of a complexity vision of the economy, and the enormous
advances in statistical techniques have made modern economics quite different from its
earlier incarnations. Modern economics is not neoclassical and does not deserve to be
condemned or lauded on neoclassical grounds. Modern economics is still finding its
footing, and my push has been to develop within economics a better sense of where
formal theory helps and where it does not. I have also tried to explicate where I see
institutional incentives driving economists to follow what I see as less-than-advantageous
tasks. In other words, I see the future of political economy as primarily coming from
within the economics profession, and not from outside. I am working within the
profession to further that development.

The authors seem to have given up on the profession. They see a revolution in
economics and development of political economy coming from outside the economics
profession. While I would certainly support such a revolution from without (which does
not preclude an evolution from with—indeed the two will likely co-evolve) I am not clear
about how they see such a revolution in economics coming about. They call for a new
interdisciplinary political economics that will impact on society. I applaud that call. But
to be a meaningful call, they need to tell readers how this new interdisciplinary political
economics will come about. It will not arrive spontaneously. It will have to develop
within the current academic institutional structure. Will it arise from other social science

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