economics vs political economy

economics and political economy both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
economics	Yes	No	No	No
political economy	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, economics and political economy are synonyms defined as:

economics and political economy: the branch of social science that deals with the production and distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management

Other synonyms of economics include economic science.

economics (noun)	political economy (noun)
the branch of social science that deals with the production and distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management	the branch of social science that deals with the production and distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management