Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T11:33:20.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Constitution of the Economy

from Part I - Interdependence and the Economic Constitution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2023

Adrian Pabst
Affiliation:
University of Kent, Canterbury
Roberto Scazzieri
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi, Bologna, Italy
Get access

Summary

The notion of ‘constitution’ refers to the fundamental architecture of a polity considered as an organised collective structure encompassing multiple levels of agency and a variety of plural institutions beyond the state. A given constitution of the economy provides a set of conditions determining which patterns of division of labour are feasible under the existing structure of the polity, and which ones are not. This chapter outlines a framework for analysing the economic constitution in terms of the relatively invariant constellation of dispositions and interests characterising the existing polity. A given economic constitution is consistent with a limited range of variation of the division of labour and group affiliations, while more radical changes might take the economy away from the existing constitutional arrangement. On that basis the chapter also conceptualises the ‘economic body’ as the pattern of organised complexity arising from the relative positions and feasible motions within the economy and characterising the economic constitution of the polity. Finally, the chapter explores the way in which alternative arrangements of social networks influence the response patterns of economic constitutions to factors of change and provides a heuristic for identifying feasible policy options and transformation trajectories under given circumstances.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Constitution of Political Economy
Polity, Society and the Commonweal
, pp. 96 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×