Photos:Dr Tony Orji With Hon Dozie Nwankwo At The Second Gathering Of Eco-Generals In Ekpo Ref

UDIDA THERESA ALORYE
REG:2016/SD/36048
DEPT:EDU.ECONOMICS
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND POLITICAL ECONOMY
Traditional economy is an original economic system in which traditions, customs, and beliefs help shape the goods and the services the economy produces, as well as the rules and manner of their distribution. Traditional economies depend on agriculture, fishing, hunting, gathering or some combination of the above. They use barter instead of money. Most traditional economies operate in emerging markets and developing countries. Economists and anthropologists believe all other economies got their start as traditional economies. Thus, they expect remaining traditional economies to evolve into either market, command or mixed economies over time. In traditional economy, They use traditions gained from the elders' experiences to guide day-to-day life and economic decisions. most traditional economies produce only what they need. There is rarely surplus or leftovers. That makes it unnecessary to trade or create money. hen traditional economies do trade, they rely on barter. It can only occur between groups that don't compete. For example, a tribe that relies on hunting exchanges food with a group that relies on fishing. E.t.c
Political economy is a term used for studying production and trade, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth. As the name suggests, political economy is concerned with how political forces influence the economy and economic outcomes. it is economic activity that generates the resources that are required to sustain political activity, for example, election campaign expenses. Moreover, whilst policy might lead to a certain economic activity prospering, this success in itself can generate a political constituency with an interest in maintaining the economic activity, because a sizeable number of people now benefit from it. Political economists are very interested in who gains and who loses from a particular policy. This is likely to provide important clues as to which groups or individuals support the continuation of the policy, as well as to which groups might be drawn into a coalition seeking to change it.

Tradition Is Cherished: Traditional economies still produce products and services that are a direct result of their beliefs, customs, traditions, religions, etc. Vast portions of the world still function under a traditional economic system. These areas tend to be rural, second- or third-world, and closely tied to the land, usually through farming. However, there is an increasingly small population of nomadic peoples, and while their economies are certainly traditional, they often interact with other economies in order to sell, trade, barter, etc.
Minimal Waste: Traditional economies would never, ever, in a million years see the type of profit or surplus that results from a market or mixed economy. In general, surplus is a rare thing. A third-world and/or indigenous country does not have the resources necessary (or if they do, they are controlled by wealthier economies, often by force), and in many cases any surplus is either distributed, wasted, or paid to some authority that has been given power (investopedia.com).
In Political Economy; the two fundamental aspects of political economies are:
1. Private ownership of the means of production
2. Voluntary exchanges / contracts
The most common title associated with a political economy is capitalism. Individuals and businesses own the resources and are free to exchange and contract with each other without decree from government authority. The collective term for these uncoordinated exchanges is the "market." (Leroux, 2011)
Prices arise naturally in a market economy based on supply and demand. Consumer preferences and resource scarcity determine which goods are produced and in what quantity; the prices in a market economy act as signals to producers and consumers who use these price signals to help make decisions. Governments play a minor role in the direction of economic activity.
In addition, under a political economy, governments own all of the factors of production such as land, capital, and resources, and government officials determine when, where and how much is produced at any one time. This is also sometimes referred to as a "planned economy." The most famous contemporary example of a command economy was that of the former Soviet Union, which operated under a communist system (Leroux, 2011).