This paper seeks to explore the ways in which the Labour party leader Ed Miliband has been influenced by the ‘moral economy’ tradition. This is a broad and diverse tradition which can be traced back to a range of political practices and thinkers, from the Marxist historian E. P. Thompson to Karl Polanyi. The paper has four specific aims:
-To clarify the meaning of ‘moral economy’.
-To understand more precisely the extent to which ideas about the moral economy have influenced the thought of Ed Miliband and other leading Labour party figures, and are filtering through into party policy.
-To explore the (in)compatibility of moral economy thinking with other traditions in Labour party thought, such as Fabianism and the Third Way.
-To judge whether or not the moral economy approach represents a distinctive break with the recent and more distant past of the Labour party.
