Economic ideology

An economic ideology distinguishes itself from economic theory in being normative rather than just explanatory in its approach. It expresses a perspective on the way an economy should be run and to what end, whereas the aim of economic theories is to create accurate explanatory models. However the two are closely interrelated.

A good way of discerning whether an ideology can be classified an economic ideology is to query if it inherently takes a specific and detailed economic standpoint. For instance, Anarchism cannot be said to be an economic ideology as such, because it has amongst others Anarcho-capitalism on the one hand and Anarcho-communism on the other as subcategories thereof, which in turn can.

Furthermore, economic ideology is distinct from an economic system that it supports, such as a capitalist ideology, to the extent that explaining an economic system (positive economics) is distinct from advocating it (normative economics). The theory of economic ideology explains its occurrence, evolution, and relation to an economy

Examples

Capitalism

Capitalism is a broad economic system where competition in a free market determines the price, production and consumption of goods through the invisible hand of supply and demand reaching efficient market equilibrium. Capital, property and enterprise are privately owned and managed for a profit.

New enterprises may freely gain market entry without State restriction. Employment and wages are determined by a labour market that will result in some unemployment. Government and Judicial intervention are employed at times to change the economic incentives for people for various reasons. The capitalist economy will likely follow a business cycle of economic growth along with a steady cycle of small booms and busts.

There are several implementations of capitalism that are loosely based around how much government involvement there is. The main ones that exist today are mixed economies, where the state intervenes in market activity and provides some services, Laissez faire, where the state only supplies a court, a military, and a police, and anarcho-capitalism where the state does not exist and thus cannot interfere.

Socialism

Socialism refers to the various theories of economic organization which advocate either public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources. (see socialism)

Communism

As Friedrich Engels described it (in Anti-Dühring), communism is the evolution of socialism so that the central role of the State has 'withered away' and is no longer necessary for the functioning of a planned economy. All property and capital are collectively owned and managed in a communal, classless and egalitarian society. Currency is no longer needed, and all economic activity, enterprise, labour, production and consumption is freely exchanged "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".

It must be noted that communism is also a political system as much an economic one - with various models in how it is implemented - the well known being the Marxist Leninist model, which argues for the use of a vanguard party to bring about a workers state to be used as a transitional tool to bring about stateless communism, the economic arrangement described above. Other models to bring about communism include democratic socialism, which argues for slow social transformation and evolution, or anarcho-communism, which argues similarly to Marxist schools for a revolutionary transformation to the above economic arrangement, but does not use a transitional period or vanguard party.

See also

• Constitutional economics
• Economic system
• Development economics
• Ecological economics
• Political economy
• Social model
• National Economy Model (Haydarizm)

References

• Karl Brunner, 1996. Economic Analysis and Political Ideology: The Selected Essays of Karl Brunner, v. 1, Thomas Ly, ed. Chapter-preview links via scroll down.
• Kurt Klappholz, 1987. "ideology," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 2, pp. 716–18.
• From The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 2008, 2nd Edition:

"capitalism" by Robert L. Heilbroner. Abstract.

"contemporary capitalism" by William Lazonick. Abstract.

"Maoist economics" by Wei Li. Abstract.

"social democracy" by Ben Jackson. Abstract.

"welfare state" by Assar Lindbeck. Abstract.

"American exceptionalism" by Louise C. Keely.Abstract.

"laissez-faire, economists and" by Roger E. Backhouse and Steven G. Medema. Abstract.

• Julie A. Nelson and Steven M. Sheffrin, 1991. "Economic Literacy or Economic Ideology?" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(3), pp. 157-165 (press +).
• Joseph A. Schumpeter, 1942. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.
• _____, 1949. "Science and Ideology," American Economic Review, 39(2), pp. 346–359. Reprinted in Daniel M. Hausman, 1994, 2nd rev. ed., The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology, Cambridge University Press, pp. 224-238.
• Robert M. Solow, 1971. ""Science and Economic Ideology," The Public Interest, 23(1) pp. 94–107. Reprinted in Daniel M. Hausman, 1994, 2nd rev. ed., The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology, Cambridge University Press, pp. 239-251.
• Karl Marx, 1857-58. "Ideology and Method in Political Economy," in Grundrisse: Foundation of the Critique of Political Economy, tr. 1973. Reprinted in Daniel M. Hausman, 1994, 2nd rev. ed., The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology, Cambridge University Press, pp. 119-142.
• Earl A. Thompson and Charles Robert Hickson, 2000. Ideology and the Evolution of Vital Economic Institutions. Springer.Descrip;tion and chapter preview links, pp. vii-x.