Established by James Laurence Laughlin in 1892, it covers both theoretical and empirical economics.

[1] In the past, the journal published quarterly from its introduction through 1905, ten issues per volume from 1906 through 1921, and bimonthly from 1922 through 2019.

The editor-in-chief is Magne Mogstad (University of Chicago).

The journal is abstracted and indexed in EBSCO, ProQuest, EconLit [3] , Research Papers in Economics, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, and the Social Sciences Citation Index.

[5] Among the most influential papers that appeared in the Journal of Political Economy are:[6]