WPHECN #1 History of economic thought

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_economic_thought - History of economic thought From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The history of economic thought deals with different thinkers and theories in the field of political economy and economics from the ancient world to the present day. British philosopher Adam Smith is cited by many as the father of modern [1][ 2] however his ideas built upon a economics, considerable body of work from predecessors in the eighteenth century. They in turn were grappling with ideas received from centuries before and attempting to apply them to a modern setting. In this sense, Smith was an interpreter to his day of ages-old information. Economics was not considered a separate discipline until the nineteenth century. In his works on politics and ethics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle grappled with the "art" of wealth acquisition and the question of whether property is best left in private or public hands. In medieval times, scholars like Thomas Aquinas argued that it was a moral obligation of businesses to sell goods at a just price. Economic thought evolved from feudalism in the Middle Ages to mercantilist theory Wealth of Nations is widely con sidered in the renaissance, when the prevailing wisdom to be th e first modern work in th e advocated that trade policy be structured in order field of econ omics. to further the national interest. The modern political economy of Adam Smith appeared during the industrial revolution, when technological advancement, global exploration, and material opulence that had previously been unimaginable was becoming a reality. Changes in economic thought have always accompanied changes in the economy, just as changes in economic thought can propel change in economic policy. Following Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, classical economists such as David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill examined the ways the landed, capitalist and labouring classes produced and distributed national riches. In London, Karl Marx castigated the capitalist system he saw around him which he thought was exploitative and alienating, before neo-classical economics in a new era sought to erect a positive, mathematical and scientifically grounded field above normative politics. After the wars of the early twentieth century, John Maynard Keynes led a reaction against governmental abstention from economic affairs, advocating interventionist fiscal policy to stimulate economic demand, growth and prosperity. But with a world divided between the capitalist first world, the communist second world, and the poor of the third world, the post-war consensus broke down. Men like Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek caught the imagination of some western leaders, warning of The Road to Serfdom and socialism, focusing their theory on what could be achieved through better monetary policy and deregulation. However, the reaction of governments through the 1980s has been challenged, and development economists like Amartya Sen and information economists like Joseph Stiglitz are bringing new ideas to economic thought in the twenty first century. Contents 1 Early economic thought 1.1 Aristotle 1.2 Middle Ages 2 Mercantilists and nationalism 2.1 Thomas Mun 2.2 Philipp von H* *rnigk 2.3 Jean Baptiste Colbert 2.4 John Locke 2.5 Dudley North 2.6 David Hume 3 The circular flow 3.1 Fran**ois Quesnay 3.2 Jacques Turgot 4 The Wealth of Nations 4.1 Context 4.2 The invisible hand 4.3 Limitations 5 Classical political economy 5.1 Jeremy Bentham 5.2 Jean-Baptiste Say 5.3 Thomas Malthus 5.4 David Ricardo 5.5 John Stuart Mill 6 Marxism 6.1 Context 6.2 Das Kapital 6.3 After Marx 7 The new classical assumptions 7.1 The marginalist revolution 7.2 Mathematical analysis 7.3 Economic policy 8 The Keynesian revolution 8.1 John Maynard Keynes 8.2 The General Theory 8.3 Keynesian economics 9 The Austrian school 9.1 Joseph Schumpeter 9.2 Friedrich Hayek 10 The "American Way" 10.1 Institutional criticism 11 Post WWII development 11.1 Paul Samuelson 12 13 14 15 16 17 11.2 Kenneth Arrow Monetarism and the Chicago school 12.1 Ronald Coase 12.2 Milton Friedman Global times 13.1 Amartya Sen 13.2 Joseph E. Stiglitz 13.3 Paul Krugman See also Notes References 16.1 Secondary sources External links Early economic thought The earliest discussions of economics date back to ancient times (e.g. Chanakya's Arthashastra or Xenophon's Oeconomicus) . Back then, and until the industrial revolution, economics was not a separate discipline but part of philosophy. In Ancient Athens, a slave based society but also one developing an embryonic model of [3] Plato's book The Republic contained references to democracy, specialisation of labour and production. But it was his pupil Aristotle that made some of the most familiar arguments, still in economic discourse today. History of science Aristotle