An Introduction to Radical
Political Economy
Reading list and lecture plan:
This module will provide an introduction to Radical Political Economy. It will start off with a general introduction to the different schools of thought and then move on to a detailed study of Marxist economic theory. There will be one lecture a week followed by a seminar after the first week. Those not presenting are expected to have read the essential reading given below. Each student will make one seminar presentation per term and write one essay.
Reading:
As regard Marx's economics, there is no substitute for reading Marx's own writings, in particular Capital Volume 1. The three volumes of Capital are published by Laurence and Wishart and by Penguin. Penguin Volume 1 has a useful introduction by Ernest Mandel.
Also there is: CJ Arthur (1992) "Marx's Capital: A Student Edition", Lawrence and Wishart.
There are a number of general texts which provide an overview of Marx's Capital:
Ben Fine (1989) "Marx's Capital", Macmillan, 3rd Edition
Anthony Brewer (1984) "A Guide to Marx's Capital", Cambridge University Press. This is intended to be used a a reading guide to Capital
Duncan Foley (1986) "Understanding Capital: Marx's Economic Theory", Harvard University Press.
Other general texts on Marx's economics are:
PN Junankar (1982) "Marx's Economics", Philip Allan Publishers Ltd.
George Catephores (1989) "An Introduction to Marxist Economics" Macmillan.
Michael Howard and John King (1986) "The Political Economy of Marx", Longman.
Meghnad Desai (1979) "Marxian Economics", Basil Blackwell.
Ernest Mandel (1977) "Marxist Economic Theory", Merlin Press.
Ben Fine and Laurence Harris (1979) "Rereading Capital", Macmillan.
An invaluable survey of the development of Marxist economic thought is provided by:
Howard MC and JE King (1991) "A History of Marxian Economics: Volume I, 19 -1929", Macmillan.
Howard MC and JE King (1992) "A History of Marxian Economics: Volume II, 1929-1990", Macmillan.
A short review article on developments in Marxist economics is:
Dunne JP (1982) "Aspects of Contemporary Marxist Economics", Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol 29, No 2. Reprinted in J Cunningham-Wood (ed) (1987) "Karl Marx's Economics: Critical Assessments", Croom Helm.
A Marxist analysis of Britain is provided by:
Aaronovitch and Smith (1981)"The Political Economy of British Capitalism", McGraw Hill.
Other schools of thought are covered in:
Burkitt B (1984)"Radical Political Economy". Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Sawyer M (1989) "The Challenge of Radical Political Economy", Harvester Wheatsheaf.
An invaluable reference work is:
John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman (eds) The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, Macmillan.
-the pieces on Marxian economics are collected together in one volume "Marxian Economics"
also
Tom Bottomore et al (ed) "A Dictionary of Marxist Thought", Basil
Blackwell.
Term 1 Lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction
Context; Overview; Schools of thought; Relation to orthodoxy; Marx's method
Catephores (1989) Ch 1
Sawyer(1989) Ch 1
Fine (1989) Ch 1,2
Howard and King (1986) Part 1
Junankar (1982) Ch 1
Desai (1979) Ch 1,2
John Pheby (1988) "Methodology and Economics", Macmillan, Ch 8.
Meghnad Desai (1985) "Men and Things", Economica, Vol 53, pp1-10.
Lecture 2: The Labour Theory of Value and Exploitation
Fine (1989) Ch 2,3
Catephores (1989) Ch 3,4
Howard and King (1986) Ch 6,7
Junankar (1982) Ch 2
Desai (1979) Ch 2,4
Sawyer (1989) Ch 7
Bob Rowthorn (1980) "Neoclassicism, Neo-Ricardianism and Marxism", Chapter 1 in Rowthorn B (1980)"Capitalism, Conflict and Inflation", Lawrence and Wishart.
Simon Mohun (1985)"Value Theory", Chapter 2 in Baranski ZG and JR Short (eds) (1985) "Developing Contemporary Marxism", Macmillan.
David Laibmann (1984-5) "Value: A Dialog in One Act", Science and Society, Vol XLVIII, Winter, pp449-465.
Seminar 1: Compare and contrast the theories of value underpinning the Neoclassical, Neo-Ricardian and Marxist schools of thought.
Lectures 3 & 4: The Transformation Problem, Sraffa and the Neo-Ricardians
Fine (1989) Ch 3,11
Catephores (1989) Ch 4
Sawyer (1989) Ch 8
Desai (1979) Part II, Ch 8-13
Howard and King (1986) Ch 8
Junankar (1982) Ch 3
Howard and King (1992) Ch 12,15
Fine and Harris (1979) Ch 2
Romer J (1981) "Analytical Foundations of Marxian Economic Theory, CUP, Ch 1.
William J Baumol (1974) "The Transformation of Values: What Marx "Really" Meant (An Interpretation)" Journal of Economic Literature, March.
Meghnad Desai (1988) "The Transformation Problem", Journal of Economic Surveys, Vol 2, No 4.
Woods JE (1990) "The Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities: An Introduction to Sraffa" Macmillan
Steedman I (1977) "Marx after Sraffa", Verso.
Meek RL (1977) "Smith, marx and After", Chapman and Hall.
Dobb M (1973) "Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith" Cambridge University Press.
Meek RL () "Mr Sraffa's Rehabilitation of Classical Economics", Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol 8, pp119-36.
Pierro Sraffa Memorial Issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol 12, No. 1, march 1988.
Seminar 2: The transformation problem is the achilles heel of Marxist economics. Discuss.
Seminar 3: Sraffa perfected value theory based on dated labour and
rehabilitated classical economics. Discuss.
Lecture 5: Industrial Reserve Army, Technology, and the Labour Market
Howard and King (1986) Ch 12
Junankar (1979) Ch 5
Sawyer (1989) Ch 2,3
Aaronovitch and Smith (1981)
Sawyer (1989) Ch 2,3
Francis Green (1991) "The 'Reserve Army Hypothesis': A Survey of Empirical Applications. Chapter 7 in Dunne (1990) "Quantitative Marxism", Polity Press.
Braverman H (1979) "Labor and Monopoly Capital", Monthly Review Press.
Friedman A (1977) "Industry and Labour", Macmillan
Thompson P (1983) "The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process", Macmillan.
Purdy D (1988) "Social Power and the Labour Market", Macmillan.
Seminar: Unemployment is endemic to capitalist development. Discuss
Lecture 6: Competition, Accumulation, and The Falling Rate of Profit
Fine (1989) Ch 10
Junankar (1982) Ch 6
Catephores Ch 6-8
Desai (1979) Part III, Ch 14-20
Howard and King (1986) Part IV
Fine and Harris (1979) Ch 4
Seminar: Marx's theory of the falling rate of profit is contradicted
by the failure of the organic composition of capital to increase in the
advanced capitalist economies. Discuss.
Lecture 7 and 8: Theories of Crisis and Capitalist Development
Catephores (1989) Ch 6-8
Howard and King (1986) Part IV
Junankar (1982) Ch 9
Aaronovitch and Smith (1981) Ch
Ben Fine and Laurence Harris (1979) Ch 5
Ron Smith (1985) Crisis Theory. Chapter 1 in Baranski and Short (1985) Developing Contemporary Marxism. Macmillan
-particularly useful
MC Howard and JE King (199?) "The Second Slump: Marxian Theories of Crisis After 1973", Review of Political Economy.
Paul Dunne (1991) "An Introduction to Quantitative Marxism", Ch 1 in Dunne P (ed) (1991) "Quantitative Marxism", Polity Press.
James O'Connor (1987) "The Meaning of Crisis: A Theoretical Introduction", Blackwell.
Seminar: The source of crisis in the UK can be found in the conflict over the share of wages and profits. Discuss.
Seminar: Marx predicted the demise of capitalism. That this has not occurred means his work has little value in understanding economic development. Discuss.
Lecture 9: Theories of the State
Sawyer Ch 10
Aaronovitch and Smith Ch
Fine and Harris (1979) Ch 6,8,9
John Holloway and Sol Picciotto (1977) "Capital, Crisis and the State", Capital and Class 2.
Atkinson and Stiglitz (1980) "Lectures on Public Economics", McGraw-Hill. Lecture 10.
Gough I (1979) "The Political economy of the Welfare State", Macmillan.
Bob Jessop (1982) "The Capitalist State", Blackwell.
Simon Clarke (1988) "Keynesianism, Monetarism, and the Crisis of the State", Edward Elgar.
David Held et al (ed) (1983) "States and Societies", Blackwell. Esp Part 4
Seminar:"The state is simply the instrument of capitalist oppression. Discuss.
Lecture 10: Developments in Radical Political Economy