Summary |
Economics thinking has a long history dating back to pre-Christian era. References to economic ideas and practices are found in Vedas, Bible and Koran in the form of commandments and instructions. Economics for long was regarded as the art of housekeeping/management. In fact, Economy was the title of a book by an ancient Greek historian and philosopher Xenophon (434-355 B.C) Aristotle was another ancient Greek thinker (384-322 B.C) who authored many works on philosophy, natural sciences and socio-economic problems. Another well-know Greet who reflected on economic matters was Plato, the author of the famous work, The Republic.
Mercantilism was a pre-classical school of thought which flourished in Europe during the 17th and early 18th centuries. It believed in a commercial policy under which generation of stock of precious metals like gold and silver through an export surplus was the main objective. Adam Smith and David Ricardo were the founders of the classical school of economics in Europe. They not only formulated economic laws governing production, exchange and distribution under capitalism, but also propounded an economic policy based on free international trade and laissez-faire (non-intervention).
The exploitation of the proletariat (workers) under capitalism led to the writings of Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher with revolutionary zeal. He published two epoch-making works in collaboration with his friend and benefactor Friedrich (1820-1895): The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Capital (1867). These two works immensely influenced the thinking of the contemporary world
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