Abstract
The nominal definition of Political Economy can easily be described as a combination of "polis" and "oikos" roughly translating to mean "the management of the public's household." However, simply defining something does not necessarily indicate its true underlying nature. My thesis attempts to determine the true underlying nature of Political Economy, determining what it really is. By examining the development of economic thought throughout history in four key areas, I determine Political Economy to be the study and practice of those institutions that facilitate human flourishing. It is also true that through this analysis, I attempt to show that Political Economy has an objective nature that can be discovered, rather than being something left to the subjective whims of each passing economist or philosopher. The four main principles indicating Political Economy's true nature are the considerations of human nature and the rule of law, the division of labor, the protection of private property rights, and the implementation of a subjective theory of value. The aim of each of these principles is human flourishing as demonstrated through some of the greatest minds throughout economic history. A solid understanding of the objective nature of Political Economy is important because as Mises points out in his work Human Action, humanity itself will be destroyed if basic economic principles are not followed in civilizations.