The financial crisis has revealed limits in the comparative study of socio-economic systems, which the field is now slowly grappling with. With its focus on stability and incremental change rather than rapid transformations, comparative political economy has now turned to investigate themes that help to explain both change and the political reactions to economic crisis, with links back to classical sociology and political science and a return to traditional concerns such as inequality. One of the advantages of comparative political economy is that it was never narrowly focused on either politics or economic dynamics, which now allow it to draw from this interdisciplinary tradition in order to put itself into question. The European intellectual tradition that focuses broadly on the links between society, states and markets is well equipped to find answers that more specialized disciplinary subdivisions might overlook. By analyzing a variety of empirical examples in different issue and policy areas, the purpose of this panel is to tease out the feature of a comparative political economy perspective that has integrated recent lessons and builds on the strengths of the European intellectual tradition.