Political Economy Foundations: Feudalism to Keynesianism

This flashcard set covers the historical transition from feudalism to capitalism and explores the core principles and vocabularies of Mercantilism, Marxism, and Keynesian economics based on lecture notes.

Feudalism

A land-based socio-economic and political system dominant in medieval Europe that originated in the 5th Century after the breakdown of the Roman Empire.

Manor

The basic unit of economic production in Feudalism where agricultural production aimed at subsistence rather than profit.

Serf labor

The foundation of feudal production, constituting the labor force tied to the manorial estates.

Demografic crisis

A factor in the decline of feudalism, specifically citing the Black death.

Bourgeosis

A class consisting of merchants, bankers, and entrepreneurs that rose during the revival of the commercial economy and urbanization.

Marchentalism

A political ideology and form of economic nationalism that encourages exports and discourages imports, based on the realist view that wealth equals power.

Bullianism

The practice of measuring a nation's wealth through the accumulation of precious metals.

Invisible hand

A concept from Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" stating that the market economy is self-regulating through individual self-interest.

Division of labour

A core proposition of equilibrium and capitalism involving the breakdown of production into specific tasks to increase efficiency.

Capital accumulation

The main purpose of capitalism, involving a cycle of savings, capital, investment, and profit.

Alienation

A Marxist concept where workers are estranged from the product, the act of production, their self, and other workers.

Base

The economic foundation of society in Marxism, consisting of the mode of production and relations of production.

Superstructure

The non-economic aspects of society, such as culture, institutions, and ideology, which are built upon and protect the economic base.

Surplus value

The value extracted from labor, calculated as the Exchange value minus the combination of labor value and raw material costs.

Historical Materialism

The Marxist theory of history progressing through stages: Primitive Communism, Slave Society, Feudalism, Capitalism, and finally Communism.

Class in itself

A stage of class consciousness where workers have a common relation to the means of production but are not yet organized for their own interests.

Class for itself

A stage of class consciousness where workers are aware of their common interests and organized to act on them.

Keynesian Political Economy

An economic approach developed as a response to the Great economic crisis (the Great Depression) and the limitations of classical and Marxist theories.

Say's law

The classical economic principle stating $\text{Supply} = \text{Demand}$, which was rejected by Keynes.

Aggregate Demand (AD)

The core driver of economic performance in Keynesianism, which the state can adjust to control economic crises.

Fiscal policy

A tool used by the government through legislation to intervene and adjust Aggregate Demand.

Monetary Policy

A tool used by the Central Bank to control the money supply and adjust Aggregate Demand.

Sticky prices and wages

The Keynesian observation that prices and wages are not flexible and do not adjust quickly to changes in economic conditions.