Routledge The Political Economy of Gunnar Myrdal: Transcending Dilemmas Post-2008 (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)

The intellectual trajectory of Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish Nobel Laureate economist, sociologist, and politician, brings us through many of the major issues in the world economy and politics of the 20th century. This new volume explores Myrdal's work on three major themes: breaking away from conventional assumptions in Political Economy (and highlighting flaws that can still be found in today’s teachings on Political Economy); finding ways of re-creating Europe after WW II, including the discussions between liberal Americans and European social democrats on how to create a more cooperative and socially just international order; and understanding the impact or environmental concerns on growth and development, starting with Myrdal’s participation in the first UN Conference on Environment in Stockholm 1960 and continuing with his later writings. What is then the relevance of these themes today? In times when financial crisis threatens to block international and domestic economies, when the European Union’s promises of prosperity and cooperation seems to be severely threatened and when there is a large consensus that current modes of economic development are ecologically unsustainable: can we find ways of transcending seemingly intractable dilemmas? These questions will be discussed in the final part of the book. Review "The fascinating book from Örjan Appelqvist gives us the opportunity to measure the depth and broad dimensions of Myrdal’s thoughts that went far beyond economic phenomena per se... In a convincing way, Appelqvist succeeds in applying Myrdal’s way of reasoning to the structural issues that European countries face." Nicolas Barbaroux, University of St Etienne, Journal of the History of Economic Thought About the Author Örjan Appelqvist is an economic historian specialized in the early post-WWII economies of Sweden and Western Europe and on the intellectual heritage of Gunnar Myrdal. As Associate Professor of the Department of Economic History, University of Stockholm he developed its Courses in International Relations. He was one of the founding members of the Attac-movement in Sweden. Actually based in Paris he is participating in various networks of European heterodox economists favoring social and ecological concerns as basis for a renewal of economic thought.