Annual STOREP symposium in the Review of Political Economy
This special issue of the Review of Political Economy brings together three thought-provoking contributions that emerged from the 21st Annual Conference of the Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell’Economia Politica (STOREP), held in Milan on June 27–29, 2024. Since 2003, STOREP has served as a vital forum for critical reflection on economic thought, fostering dialogue between historical research and contemporary economic debates. The Association’s commitment to pluralism in economic methodology and its openness to interdisciplinary perspectives make it a natural home for discussions that challenge received wisdom and explore the boundaries of economic science.
The 2024 conference, focused on the theme ‘Why Inequalities Grow: Value and Distribution in the History of Economic Thought,’ was hosted by the Department of Historical Studies (Dipartimento di Studi Storici) at the Università degli Studi di Milano. The relationship between history and this STOREP conference was twofold and particularly significant. On one hand, history served as the ‘guest discipline’ for the conference, reflecting STOREP’s foundational conviction that understanding contemporary economic phenomena requires deep engagement with their historical development — both the reconstruction of past facts and the evolution of ideas through time. As stated in STOREP’s mission, the Association aims ‘to promote research in the history of political economy and related disciplines’ and ‘to encourage links between the history of economic thought and current economic theory and policy’. This commitment to the historical perspective is well grounded in economic thinking. Schumpeter (1954) famously argued in his History of Economic Analysis that economic theory cannot be properly understood without knowledge of its historical development, since theories emerge from and respond to specific historical contexts and problems. The conference theme itself — exploring the historical evolution of theories of value and distribution to understand contemporary inequality — exemplified this approach.
[from the Introduction to the Symposium]
Introduction to the Symposium on the 21st STOREP Conference: ‘Why Inequalities Grow: Value and Distribution in the History of Economic Thought’
Angela Ambrosino, Enrico Bellino, Gabriel Brondino & Luca Fantacci
Pages: 509-515
Market Economies and Authoritarian Rule. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in the Twenty-first Century
Bruna Ingrao
Pages: 516-538
Monetary Theory of Production: Revolutionary or Not Microfounded?
Felipe Sousa
Pages: 539-568
Economics: Pluralism in Times of Fragmentation, and the Chances of Polycentrism
Mario Cedrini, Valentina Erasmo, Angela Ambrosino & John B. Davis
Pages: 569-588
Mario Cedrini