Is a Reconsolidation of Marxian Political Economy and Historical Institutionalism Possible?

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to build a new framework for the political economy of capitalism. I consider a reconsolidation of Marxian economics and historical institutionalism to be possible. I start with examination of the Japanese Marxian economist Kozo Uno’s three-level analysis of capitalism, which is a meta-theory of multilayered analysis developed to clarify the relationship between Marx’s theoretical framework and historical analysis. I emphasize the superiority of Marx’s new and original approach of “social forms” compared with “classical reductionism”. It is complementary to Veblen’s theory of institution. I then create a meta-theory for political economy in multilayered analysis.