Theoretical Foundations

Abstract

Economic and institutional change has challenged scholars and policy makers for centuries. Before there were social scientists seeking to engineer social change by writing policy prescriptions and testifying before legislative committees, there were philosophers who “whispered in the ears of princes.” Whether they were justifying the perpetuation of an existing order, like Aristotle or Hayek, explaining conflict, like Thucydides or Karl Marx, or like Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes, searching for principles upon which one might craft change in an existing order, they have all worked in the field of political economy.