Political Economists are concerned with the allocation of scarce resources in a world of infinite wants and needs. In order to allocate these resources, politics are used within a state to provide for the people. Political economy is the study of the relationships between individuals and society, and more specifically, the relationships between citizens and states.
Political economy is a study of philosophy and ideology that studies the evolution of political and economic ideas. Political economy is a mixture of politics, economics, sociology, philosophy, and history, which all bring together evidence to the study of how humans exist within societies. Political economists study political ideology, economic structure, human interaction, human nature, and theories in philosophical thought. It is a study that studies not only the mechanics of a particular structure, but also the reasoning behind why a structure is regarded to be the best by various people with different beliefs.
The study of political economics can be split into two different sections, one which is Classical Political Economy and the other which is Modern Political Economy. The classical branch studies range from the conservative philosophers such as Machiavelli to liberals such as Adam Smith to the critiquers of liberalism such as Marx. The modern branch studies range from social liberals such as Keynes to modern political economists whose works deal with a multitude of issues including foreign trade and globalization.