The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE)

About the organization

The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) was founded in the summer of 1968, when graduate students and faculty from the University of Michigan, Harvard University and Radcliffe College held a working meeting in Ann Arbor just a few weeks before the National Democratic Party Convention in Chicago. URPE’s core purpose is to be an alternative professional organization for left political economists and an intellectual home for academics, policy-makers, and activists who are interested in participating in a left intellectual debate on theoretical and policy issues. The prospectus of URPE, developed in the first few weeks of its inception, included the following objectives (URPE 1968). First, to promote a new interdisciplinary approach to political economy which includes also relevant themes from political science, sociology, and social psychology. Secondly, to develop new courses and research areas that reflect the urgencies of the day and a new value premise.