Marxist Economists

Marxist Economists

Marxian economics refers to economic theories on the functioning of capitalism based on the works of Karl Marx. Adherents of Marxian economics, particularly in academia, distinguish it from Marxism as a political ideology and sociological theory, arguing that Marx's approach to understanding the economy is intellectually independent of his advocacy of revolutionary socialism or his support of proletarian revolution. Adherents consider Marx's economic theories to be the basis of a viable analytic framework, and an alternative to more conventional neoclassical economics. Marxian economists do not lean entirely upon the works of Marx and other widely-known Marxists; they draw from a range of Marxist and non-Marxist sources.

Marx's major work on political economy was Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (better known by its German title Das Kapital), a three-volume work, of which only the first volume was published in his lifetime (the others were published by Friedrich Engels from Marx's notes). One of Marx's early works, Critique of Political Economy, was mostly incorporated into Capital, especially the beginning of Volume I. Marx's notes made in preparation for writing Capital were published years later under the title Grundrisse.