H Arendt and Political Economy

the very term "political economy" would have been a contradiction in terms: whatever was "economic," related to the life of the individual and the survival of the species, was a non-political, household affair by definition.

While technically true, it is clear that the ancients (including Aristotle) allotted the oikos a central role in the polis. Not only was it from the oikos (private enterprise) that the polis would draw its citizens (aristoi), but it also fell to the private enterprise to fund that in which it was prohibited from playing an active role. The relationship between economy and politics was therefore quite intimate. By common agreement, for the sake of the polis, the oikos was prohibited from engaging in political action. But, it, nevertheless, provided the means by which the polis was maintained. So, the question may be, why does H Arendt wish not to approach this intimacy?