political economy

American  

noun

1. a social science dealing with political policies and economic processes, their interrelations, and their influence on social institutions.

2. (in the 17th–18th centuries) the art of management of communities, especially as affecting the wealth of a government.

3. (in the 19th century) a social science similar to modern economics but dealing chiefly with governmental policies.

4. economics.

---

political economy British  

noun

1. the former name for economics

---

Other Word Forms

• political economist noun

Etymology

Origin of political economy

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

Lau also makes the point that “policy is always consequential in impacting stock prices in China given the intricate linkages between the political economy and the capital markets.”

From MarketWatch

Anxieties about inflation ate away at Democratic support, according to David A. Steinberg, an associate professor of international political economy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

From Salon

Alexandra, who is second in line to Norway's throne, will join her classmates from August and will study "international relations and political economy," Norway's royal household said.

From BBC

It’s a political economy that makes the rich ever richer and immiserates everybody else, while destroying the environment and creating more and more militarism.

From Salon

I asked sociologist Randolph Hohle, an expert on race, culture and political economy, for his thoughts on the Yale Youth Poll and the conundrum of young people’s shape-shifting politics in this era of crisis.

From Salon