As others have pointed out, economics always was "political economy". Largely because it is about the whole of society, so it's actionable results tend to be i

As others have pointed out, economics always was "political economy". Largely because it is about the whole of society, so it's actionable results tend to be in the realm of public policy. BUT: it seems there was a change around about the time of Keynes. Until then, economists talked mostly the general kind of systems that would produce prosperity. Even Marx talked like that -- he might have believed in rational planning, but he wrote about how the capitalist system as whole (mis)functioned, and how the proletariat would "inevitably" seize control. He did not detail already existing "levers" that be used by governors to steer the economy.