States and Markets: David Marquand's Contribution to Political Economy

David Marquand was professor of politics at Sheffield from 1991–1996. He contributed greatly to the department's growth and reputation, particularly through his successful directorship of the Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) which was established in 1993. David became interested in political economy because he wanted to understand what had made the golden age of the Keynesian welfare state possible, why it had collapsed and whether a new collective social project was possible. He argued that the familiar opposition between markets and states was false. States needed markets, markets needed states and there was more than one model of capitalism. Every successful political economy was based on a moral economy which underpinned the public realm and was reflected in the choices of citizens. In later writings he became pre-occupied with the consequences of the return of untamed capitalism and the rise of a new plutocracy, how they might be resisted and the public realm restored.