Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. It developed in the 18th century as the study of the economies of states (also known as polities, hence the word "political" in "political economy"). In contradistinction to the theory of the Physiocrats, in which land was seen as the source of all wealth, some political economists proposed the labour theory of value (first introduced by John Locke, developed by Adam Smith and later Karl Marx), according to which labour is the real source of value. Many political economists also attracted attention to the accelerating development of technology, whose role in economic and social relationships grew ever more important.

In the late 19th century, the term "political economy" was generally superseded by the term economics, which was used by those seeking to place the study of economy on a mathematical and axiomatic basis, rather than studying the structural relationships within production and consumption. (See marginalism, Alfred Marshall)

In the present, political economy refers to a variety of different, but related, approaches to studying economic and political behavior, which range from combining economics with other fields, to using different fundamental assumptions which challenge those of orthodox economics:

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UC Davis News: General Interest

Experts on Salmonella, E. Coli and Food Safety
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700
With numerous recent outbreaks of both salmonella and E. coli food poisoning across the United States, these UC Davis faculty members are available for comment on related topics. PRODUCE SAFETY RESEARCH -- Trevor Suslow is a Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences with extensive technical and applied research experience in postharvest pathology, quality and safety of perishable produce. He can discuss hazard analysis and risk assessment of E. coli, salmonella and other pathogen contamination in fruits and vegetables from field to fork. Suslow has provided technical input to industry and federal food-safety documents and helped implement training programs since 1995, and is broadly knowledgeable about what industry is doing to prevent or mitigate microbial contamination, how pathogen testing is being integrated into this effort, and whether microbial food-safety initiatives could have detrimental environmental impacts. Contact: Trevor Suslow, Plant Sciences, (530) 754-8313, cell (530) 304-1257, tvsuslow@ucdavis.edu. (Note: Suslow will not be available July 6-11.) PRODUCE SAFETY EDUCATION -- James Gorny is executive director of the Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center at UC Davis. The center provides research-based information to the fresh-produce industry, as well as consumers, on how fresh fruits and vegetables should be handled to reduce losses and maintain their quality, safety and marketability. Gorny also has expertise in produce food-safety regulatory policy and served as editor-in-chief of numerous produce food safety-guidance documents currently in use by the industry today. Contact: James Gorny, Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center, (530) 754-9270, jrgorny@ucdavis.edu, http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/. (Note: Gorny will not be available July 4-8.) TRACKING E. COLI -- Rob Atwill is a specialist in waterborne infectious diseases in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He is part of a team of UC and government scientists who are tracking the sources of E. coli O157:H7 in California's Salinas Valley as part of a large study funded by the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). He has projects on microbial water quality throughout California addressing a wide range of issues related to livestock, wildlife and water quality. Contact: Rob Atwill, School of Veterinary Medicine, (530) 754-2154, ratwill@ucdavis.edu. ECONOMICS AND POLICY -- Daniel Sumner is the Frank H. Buck Jr. Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and director of the University of California Agricultural Issues Center, based at UC Davis. Sumner specializes in national and international agricultural policy. He can discuss the impacts of foodborne-illness outbreaks on agriculture in California and throughout the United States. Contact: Daniel Sumner, Agricultural Issues Center, (530) 752-1668, dan@primal.ucdavis.edu. ECONOMICS AND POLICY IN FRESH-PRODUCE INDUSTRY -- Roberta Cook is a Cooperative Extension economist who focuses on fresh-produce marketing, food distribution and international trade in fruits and vegetables. She can discuss the long- and short-term impacts of disease outbreaks on the fresh-produce industry. Contact: Roberta Cook, Agricultural and Resource Economics, (530) 752-1531, cook@primal.ucdavis.edu. (Note: Cook will not be available July 4-6.) PRODUCE SAFETY -- Bonnie Fernandez is the executive director for the Center for Produce Safety in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. The center was established through a cooperative arrangement with the produce industry. Its mission is to provide ready-to-use, science-based solutions that prevent or minimize produce safety vulnerabilities. Contact: Bonnie Fernandez, Center for Produce Safety, (530) 757-5777, bfernandez@ucdavis.edu. CONSUMER ATTITUDES -- Christine Bruhn is a UC Davis food-science marketing specialist, director of the UC Davis Center for Consumer Research and a national expert on consumer attitudes about food. She can discuss public reaction to the current illness outbreaks and how consumers can best guard against foodborne illnesses. Contact: Christine Bruhn, Food Science and Technology, (530) 752-2774, cell (530) 219-2888, cmbruhn@ucdavis.edu. SAFE FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS -- Linda Harris is a University of California Cooperative Extension food microbiologist in the Department of Food Science and Technology, and associate director of the UC Davis-based Western Institute for Food Safety and Security. Her laboratory conducts research on the foodborne pathogens salmonella, E. coli, shigella and Listeria monocytogenes. She can discuss food-safety issues, especially those relating to the fruit, vegetable and nut industries, as well as consumer food-safety practices such as the best ways to wash fruits and vegetables. Contact: Linda Harris, Food Science and Technology, (530) 754-9485 or 757-5767, ljharris@ucdavis.edu. (Note: Harris will not be available July 4-6.) FOOD ANIMAL SCIENCE AND POLICY -- Jerry Gillespie is a UC Davis veterinary pathologist with special expertise in the area of food animals and food safety. He can discuss policy issues related to E. coli outbreaks and how science, government and industry are working together to address food safety and food security challenges. Contact: Jerry Gillespie, Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, (707) 744-1617, jrgillespie@wifss.ucdavis.edu. DISEASES TRANSMITTED VIA FOOD AND WATER -- Dean Cliver is an emeritus professor of food safety in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and an expert on diseases that can be spread through food and water. He has served as an adviser to state and federal agencies on a variety of food-safety issues. He can discuss the science of microbial diseases and how illness caused by E. coli, salmonella, etc. can be transmitted to people via fresh foods. Contact: Dean Cliver, School of Veterinary Medicine, (530) 754-9120 or 759-9459, docliver@ucdavis.edu. CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC AGRICULTURE -- Karen Klonsky is a Cooperative Extension economist who specializes in farm business management issues, including organic agriculture. She can discuss the implications of E. coli outbreaks for California's farmers. Contact: Karen Klonsky, Agricultural and Resource Economics, (530) 752-3563, klonsky@primal.ucdavis.edu. (Note: Klonsky will not be available July 4-6.) MAD COW DISEASE EXPERTS -- UC Davis faculty members study mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and provide educational programs for a wide variety of consumer, producer and veterinary groups. See our experts list online at: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/sources/mad_cow.lasso. MORE INFORMATION ONLINE -- The UC Davis Postharvest Center has produce-related videos and PDF files posted online that are useful for consumers as well as industry members. Topics range from "How to Tell if Your Fruits and Vegetables Have Gone Bad" to "Growing, Handling and Shipping California Cantaloupes." See the list at: http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Pubs/video-library.shtml.
UC Davis Community Advised to Avoid Smoky Air
Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700
As you are all well aware, air quality around the Davis and Sacramento campuses has been declining due to wildfire smoke. The air quality around the Davis campus officially reached unhealthy levels on Thursday afternoon and the local air is anticipated to remain unhealthy at least through Sunday. Everyone is advised to minimize outdoor activity and physical exertion. If you are experiencing adverse effects due to the smoke, please speak to you supervisor about the possibility of an alternative work environment. State health officials offer the following advice: Pay attention to local air quality reports and stay alert to health warnings related to smoke. You are encouraged to monitor the situation by checking the following Web sites: http://www.sparetheair.com/ http://www.airquality.org/smokeimpact/ Stay indoors and take steps to keep indoor air as clean as possible. Keep your windows and doors closed. Set air conditioners on recirculate. Use common sense. It's probably not a good time to go for a lunchtime walk, go for a bike ride or participate in outdoor recreation. If you have asthma or other lung or heart disease, make sure you follow your doctor's directions about taking your medicines and following your asthma management plan. Call your doctor if your symptoms worsen. When smoke is heavy for a prolonged period of time, fine particles can build up indoors even though you may not be able to see them.
UC Davis' Centennial Celebration to Kick off at State Fair
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The University of California, Davis, will kick off its centennial celebration this summer at the California State Fair in Sacramento, filling a 6,000-square-foot pavilion with an exhibition titled "Dream Big." It will showcase the campus's development from farm school to a dynamic university for the arts and sciences, recognized worldwide for education and research in agriculture, health care, the environment, alternative energy and global understanding. "It will tell the story of a university that has evolved from 18 students to 30,000 today," said Assistant Vice Chancellor Bob Segar, who leads the centennial planning team. The state fair runs at Cal Expo from Aug. 15 through Labor Day, Sept. 1, and the UC Davis Centennial celebration continues the next month on the Davis campus with a Fall Festival chock-full of events open to the public. "One-hundred-year birthdays are very rare, not-to-be-missed occasions," Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said. "Please join us in celebrating UC Davis' first century of truly astonishing achievement and service. With your help, our second century is sure to be even more remarkable than our first!" In the university's first 100 years, nearly 200,000 men and women have become UC Davis alumni -- 100 of whom will be featured in photos at the state fair exhibition. The centennial display will show the university's great diversity, and fairgoers will be able to spin the photos around to read short biographies of the alumni's many career paths and accomplishments. The exhibition will tell more of the UC Davis story through artifacts from university collections (artwork and a 1908 graduation dress, for example), and via fun, hands-on exhibits (like a biodigester where you can toss in food scraps and see how they are turned into energy). "We hope people will walk out of there and say, 'Wow, I didn't know UC Davis did all that,' "Segar said. On campus, the centennial celebration begins in earnest with the chancellor's Fall Convocation. At this year's address, Wednesday, Sept. 24, Vanderhoef plans to announce the Centennial Year of Service, during which members of the campus community will be encouraged to participate in service projects that are meaningful to them. Then, mark your calendars for the Fall Festival, Friday through Wednesday, Oct. 10-15, celebrating UC Davis old and new; alumni, athletics and the arts; and the campus's connection to the community of Davis. The Fall Festival will begin with the public opening and dedication, on Friday, Oct. 10, of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the campus' south entry. "You won't recognize the entry to campus when you come in during the centennial year," Segar said. Acres of vineyards will spread between Interstate 80 and the wine and food institute. The first of two Fall Festival events at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts is set for 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10. In the center's Distinguished Speakers Series, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN legal analyst and a staff writer for The New Yorker, will address the topic "One Hundred Years: A Look Inside the Supreme Court," including key moments involving UC Davis. (Ticket information: http://www.mondaviarts.org.) Saturday, Oct. 11, features the Golden Society Brunch for alumni who graduated 50 years ago or earlier, and then the homecoming football game against Southern Utah under the lights in the new Aggie Stadium. The Fall Festival moves into downtown Davis on Sunday, Oct. 12, for a street fair and birthday party thrown by the Davis Chamber of Commerce and the city of Davis. "Celebrate UC Davis" is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. along Third Street. Look for something very special at Third and C streets: 100 birthday cakes at the Farmers Market Pavilion at Central Park. At 3 p.m. that same day at the Mondavi Center, the festival continues with the award-winning dance company Instituto Mazatlan Bellas Artes de Sacramento, presenting Corazon de Mexico, described as "a visual fairytale with vivid characters in lavishly colorful costumes flowing from one folk dance to the next in a single choreographic symphony." (Ticket information: http://www.mondaviarts.org.) The Fall Festival concludes Wednesday, Oct. 15, on the Quad, with side-by-side showcases on the east and west halves: The Davis Chamber of Commerce's Day on the Quad, where city businesses introduce themselves to the student community. This annual event becomes more significant in UC Davis' centennial year because of the nascent chamber's role in convincing the state to pick Davis as the site of the University Farm in 1906. The annual Activities Fair, where more than 150 student organizations promote themselves at the start of the new academic year. The center of the Quad will be the center of attention at noon Oct. 15, with the unveiling of the Centennial Walk -- a reconstructed path, 12-feet wide (twice as wide as what is there now). "Anybody who has an association with UC Davis really values the Quad," Segar said, "and this is a chance to add quality to this well-loved place." By launching the centennial celebration at the state fair, the university is literally going back to its roots. During the 1899 state fair, Peter J. Shields, then secretary of the California State Agricultural Society, engaged in a conversation about the dairy industry -- and that conversation led to his dream of founding an agriculture school. With a charter faculty of 16 regular instructors from UC Berkeley's College of Agriculture and 12 nonresident instructors, UC Davis launched a century of contributions to state, national and global agricultural progress. The first residential class, in January 1909, numbered 18 -- all men, because North Hall had been designed as a men-only dormitory. (North Hall is still standing, now a home for a variety of student services; it is next to South Hall, built in 1912 as a dorm and since converted to student services, too.) Fast forward a century to this fall: The Centennial Class that arrives on campus in September will number about 5,000, compared with the 109 men and women who attended the first courses in fall 1908 and arranged for room and board in town. For the latest centennial news and an up-to-date calendar of events, please go to http://centennial.ucdavis.edu.

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