Focusing empirically on how political and economic forces are always mediated and interpreted by agents, both in individual countries and in the international sphere, Constructing the International Economy sets out what such constructions and what various forms of constructivism mean, both as ways of understanding the world and as sets of varying methods for achieving that understanding. It rejects the assumption that material interests either linearly or simply determine economic outcomes and demands that analysts consider, as a plausible hypothesis, that economies might vary substantially for nonmaterial reasons that affect both institutions and agents' interests.

Constructing the International Economy portrays the diversity of models and approaches that exist among constructivists writing on the international political economy. The authors outline and relate several different arguments for why scholars might attend to social construction, inviting the widest possible array of scholars to engage with such approaches. They examine points of terminological or theoretical confusion that create unnecessary barriers to engagement between constructivists and nonconstructivist work and among different types of constructivism. This book provides a tool kit that both constructivists and their critics can use to debate how much and when social construction matters in this deeply important realm.

"Constructing the International Economy is an impassioned, compelling case for stepping back from the realist view of the modern economy to understand how its institutions, practices, and theories have been constructed by human agents. Three of the most innovative scholars of the international economy, Rawi Abdelal, Mark Blyth, and Craig Parsons, bring together in this engaging and timely book a series of cutting-edge studies from dynamic and creative young researchers."—Frank Dobbin, Harvard University
"Constructing the International Economy makes an important statement as to why constructivist social theory needs to be applied to the field of international political economy. The editors are to be commended for structuring the volume in such a way that it captures all forms of constructivism, which both enriches the book's insights and creates opportunities for conversation."—Jeffrey T. Checkel, Professor of International Studies and Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security, Simon Fraser University

Rawi Abdelal is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is author of National Purpose in the World Economy, also from Cornell, and Capital Rules. Mark Blyth is Professor of International Political Economy at Brown University and editor most recently of Routledge Handbook of International Political Economy (IPE). Craig Parsons is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon and author of books including A Certain Idea of Europe, also from Cornell, and How to Map Arguments in Political Science.