Returning to the Political Economy

Returning to the Political Economy

Craig at Theoria suggests that, given the current financial crisis, we ought to return to studying the political economy:

In 1968, Alexandre Kojeve, then one of the chief planners for the European Common Market working the French Ministry of Economic Affairs, was asked what the students in the streets of Paris should do. Kojeve’s answer was “learn Greek.” It is only in recent years through Giorgio Agamben’s work that we’ve come to understand what Kojeve meant.

While I don’t claim to be nearly as smart or clever as Kojeve, it would be my suggestion, given the current financial crisis, to return to the classics of political economy.

I don’t really know much about political economy, but I do happen to be reading Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, and Marx at the moment, and just from that I think this is good advice. Check out the link for recommendations on specific texts. (Note: None of them are in ancient Greek!)