BY: JOHN E. ROEMER
Yale University
University of California, Davis
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=285761
Paper ID: Cowles Foundation Discussion Paper No. 1327
Date: September 2001
Contact: JOHN E. ROEMER
Email: Mailto:john.roemer at yale.edu
Postal: Yale University
Department of Political Science
Box 208301
New Haven, CT 06520-8301 USA
Phone: 203-432-5249
Fax: 203-432-6196
ABSTRACT:
A brief, historical review of the study of the interdependency
between politics and economic distribution is offered. While the
impact of economic interests on politics has been acknowledged
for thousands of years, and the impact of politics on
distribution for hundreds, it is only in the last thirty years
that formal models of the interdependency between economic
distribution and politics have been formulated. A general model
of political-economic equilibrium is proposed, in which
political competition and economic distribution jointly
determine each other. Several examples are given. The author
proposes that political economy, conceived of as studying this
process of joint determination, is in its infancy.
Keywords: Political-Economic Equilibrium