Re: What is the difference between the study of Political Economy and straight Economics?
From: ken (someone_at_home.com)
Date: 06/13/04
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Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 13:17:32 -0500
"klystron" <kly@varian.org> wrote in message
news:MPG.1b3501ee8eec6b23989e9b@news.sonic.net...
> In article <7e4bfa4a.0406120748.6eb3ce77@posting.google.com>,
> arnold_holbrook@mailcity.com says...
>
> > I am considering the possibility of graduate study in Economics.
> >
> > I was wondering what the difference was between the study of of
> > Political Economy and straight Economics, if there is a difference?
> >
> > My impresssion is that the study of Economics primarily focuses on
> > number crunching, applying alot of statistical methods to databases,
> > and then putting these statistics into graph form and drawing short
> > term conclusions from them. I guess there is also alot of use of
> > calculus, since you are making calculations on graphs which consist of
> > irregular areas.
Most of my time in grad school in Economics was spent using was lot of
calculus.
> >
> > A Political Economist is more interested in the development of
> > Economic institutions, and what the statistical data means for the
> > long term development of these Economic institutions.
> >
> > Could one argue that Adam Smith and Karl Marx were Political
> > Economists?
Absolutely. As well as Malthus, J.S. Mill, Ricardo, all the early leading
economists.
> >
> > Am I correct in these observations, or do they need modification?
> >
> > What are some career paths that Political Economists take, and what is
their salary potential?
Mostly political economists are professors, but some of them also take other
jobs. John Kenneth Galbraith was Ambassador to India. Some write popular
books. Some advise politicians.
> >
> > Is the study of Political Economy recommended for those who are not as
> > strong in math as they are in verbal comprehension and reasoning?
Well, a real grasp of political economy demands an ability to understand
systems, and what effect changing them will have. So reasoning can be very
important. For example, some of the economists you run into will tell you
that investing Social Security in the stock market will mean that the system
will pay out better than it presently is, because the money is invested, and
earning more money. It somehow doesn't occur to them that whatever way you
divide up the goods and services that an economy produces, if you divert
more goods and services to an increasing proportion of retired people, you
have to take it away from someone else. And they also don't seem to
understand that if twice as much money is spent on buying stocks, the yield
of stocks as a whole is going to go down by 50%.
If those statement are obvious to you, you can understand political economy,
regardless of how well you understand math.
> >
> > Can one recommend shcools that have good quality graduate programs for
> > the study of Political Economy?
London School of Economics. University of Maryland used to be good, haven't
checked on them lately.
> >
> > I will post more questions if I came up with any. Please only serious
> > and relevant answers. Thanks in advance for your helpful answers.
> >
> > Arnold Holbrook
> >
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