История экономических учений. Классическая школа политической экономии (конспект лекций)

Free technical library

Lecture notes, cheat sheets
Free library / Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets

История экономических учений. Классическая школа политической экономии (конспект лекций)

Lecture notes, cheat sheets

Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets

Comments on the article

Table of contents (expand)

The emergence of economic thought in the ancient world (Backgrounds of economic thought in the Ancient East. Ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Ancient Egypt. Babylonia. Economic thought in Ancient India. Economic thought in Ancient China. Economic thought in Ancient Rome. The teachings of Cato. The teachings of Xenophon. The teachings of Plato. The teachings of Aristotle)
Economic thought in the Middle Ages (Medieval teachings of Western Europe. "Salic truth". Socio-economic views of Ibn Khaldun. Teachings of Thomas Aquinas. Social utopia of Thomas More. "Russian Truth")
Mercantilism (Mercantilism. Economic prerequisites of mercantilism. Features of mercantilism as an economic idea. French and English mercantilism. Features of Russian mercantilism. Late mercantilism)
Physiocracy (General characteristics of the physiocrats. The teachings of François Quesnay. The activities of Jacques Turgot)
Classical school of political economy (Classical school. Economic views of William Petty. Teachings of Adam Smith. Teachings of David Ricardo)
Classical school after Smith and Ricciardo (The teachings of Jean-Baptiste Say. The economic views of John Stuart Mill. The economic views of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The teachings of Thomas Malthus)
historical school (Contribution of the historical school to the development of economic theory. Historical school of Germany. New historical school of Germany)
Utopian socialists (Western European utopian socialism. Economic views of Simon de Sismondi. Utopian dreams of Robert Owen)
Marxism (The emergence of Marxism as an economic doctrine. “Capital” by Karl Marx. Karl Marx on the commodity and its properties. Money and its functions. Karl Marx on constant and variable capital and surplus value. Karl Marx’s views on land rent)
Austrian school (Austrian school: the theory of marginal utility as a theory of pricing. The economic views of Eugen Böhm-Bawerk. The teachings of Carl Menger. The economic views of Friedrich von Wieser)
Marginalism (The theory of marginalism. Methodological principles of marginalism. The marginalist theory of value and its advantages. The marginalist revolution. The causes and consequences of the marginalist revolution. The theory of utility of William Stanley Jevons. The theory of exchange of William Stanley Jevons. The theory of labor supply of William Stanley Jevons. The theory of exchange of Francis Isidro Edgeworth)
General economic equilibrium theory (General equilibrium model including production; the problem of the existence of a solution and the process of "tatonnement". General equilibrium theory in the 20th century: contributions of A. Wald, J. von Neumann, J. Hicks, C. Arrow and J. Debreu)
Alfred Marshall (A. Marshall - leader of the Cambridge school of marginalists. Alfred Marshall's partial equilibrium method. Alfred Marshall's analysis of utility and demand. Alfred Marshall's analysis of costs and supply. Alfred Marshall's equilibrium price and the influence of the time factor)
The beginning of the economic development of Rus' (Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period. Prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state. General characteristics of the socio-economic development of Kievan Rus. Features of early feudalization. Social division of labor among the Eastern Slavs. The emergence of cities, the development of trade in Ancient Rus'. Internal development of Rus'. The adoption of Christianity and the baptism of Rus' . Money and its role in Kievan Rus)
Economic development of Rus' in the Middle Ages (Causes and consequences of feudal fragmentation. The growth of feudal land ownership. Rus' under Mongol-Tatar rule. Socio-economic and political consequences of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The main conditions and stages of the unification of Russian lands into a centralized state. Economic policy of Russia in the second half of the 15th-17th centuries . Formation of the all-Russian market. Socio-economic development of Russia after the Time of Troubles)
Economic development under Peter I and Catherine II (The essence of the reforms of Peter I. The results of the reforms of Peter I. The peasant question. Agriculture and land use under Catherine II. Industry, trade and finance under Catherine II. The socio-economic policy of Catherine II. The nobility and the system of local government in the second half of the 18th century. Social -economic development of Russia in the first half of the 19th century)
Economic development of Russia in the 19th century. (The Crimean War and its impact on the economic situation in the country. General characteristics of the economic development of Russia in the first half of the 1860th century. Economic prerequisites for the elimination of serfdom. Abolition of serfdom. Stratification of the Russian village. Main types of agricultural farms and their characteristics. Bourgeois reforms of Alexander II and their consequences. Zemstvo reform Urban reform Judicial reform Military reform Educational reforms Financial reform Basic provisions of the legislation on peasants The situation of agriculture in the 1870-XNUMXs Agrarian reform of P. A. Stolypin)
Economic thought in Russia (second half of the 1917th - beginning of the 1921th centuries) (The place of N. G. Chernyshevsky in the history of Russian and world economic thought. Economic views of V. I. Lenin. The first socialist transformations. War communism as a stage in the formation of the command-administrative system (XNUMX-XNUMX ). Increasing crisis phenomena in the economy and the beginning of the New Economic Policy. Changes in the monetary and financial spheres)
Economic development of the USSR (The economy of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet economy during the war. Post-war development of the national economy. The country on the eve of reforms. Reform of the Soviet economic system. Transformations in the social sphere. The economy of developed socialism. The search for new forms and methods of management. Reforms of the 1960-1970s years: essence, goals, methods and results)
Economic development of Russia during the period of perestroika (Background of perestroika. Preconditions for its emergence. Reform of the political system. Reform of the electoral system. Analysis of liberal and other movements. Economic reforms. Economic reform of 1987. The “500 days” program. The dialectic of “new thinking”. The beginning of disarmament. Unblocking regional conflicts. Collapse socialist system)
Economic development of Russia since the early 1990s. (Russia in the first half of the 1990s. Continuation of the course of reforms, shock therapy. Issues of maintaining the unity of Russia. New Constitution. Privatization)

LECTURE No. 5. The classical school of political economy

1. Classical school

The ideas of the representatives of the classical school are relevant to this day, and in their time they had a huge impact on the development of economic science. This direction developed from the XNUMXth to the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Representatives of the classical school advocated liberalism, that is, they defended the position that the state should not interfere in the affairs of its subjects. It is believed that the period of formation of economic theory as a science falls just at the time of the existence of the classical school. Therefore, the separation of economics into a separate science is considered the merit of representatives of the classical school. They began to develop the theory of value, expressed their opinion on where the surplus value comes from or where the profit comes from. They created many works on taxation and land rent.

The founders of the classical school are considered to be William Petty, Pierre Boisguillebert, Adam Smith, David Riccardo, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill. They believed that economics is the science of wealth and how to achieve it.

We list the main ideas of representatives of the classical school.

1. The main and practically the only goal of the capitalist is to obtain the maximum profit in the minimum period of time.

2. The increase in wealth can only occur through the accumulation of capital.

3. A person is selfish by nature, and therefore the most important thing for him is to receive benefits.

4. The best development of the state will be achieved only under liberalism.

5. The amount of salary depends and will always depend on the demand for the profession at a given time.

6. There must be free competition in order for the "principle of the invisible hand of Providence" to work, that is, what is commonly called today the law of supply and demand.

7. In transactions, everyone should be economically savvy and have an idea of everything that happens in any of the markets (land, labor, commodity, etc.).

2. Economic views of William Petty

William Petty (1623-1687) - English classical economist, whom Karl Marx called the father of political economy and, possibly, statistics. He is also considered to be the author of the labor theory of value. William Petty was born in the south of England in the city of Romsey. Almost all subjects at school were easy for him, even Latin. At the age of 14 he went to work as a cabin boy on a ship. Then he ended up in France and was able to go to college precisely because he knew Latin. In 1640 he came to London to continue his studies. At the age of 27 he received a doctorate in physics, and at the age of 38 he received a knighthood. William Petty is known as the author of many works - such as "A Treatise on Taxes and Duties" (1662), "Political Anatomy of Ireland" (1672), "Miscellaneous Concerning Money" (1682).

In one of his works one can read the famous formula: "Labor is the father and the active principle of wealth, the Earth is its mother." He believed that the sources of wealth are labor and land, and not just money, that is, precious metals. On the other hand, in his opinion, almost everything can be called wealth: houses, ships, goods, home furnishings, lands, precious stones and money. Yet wealth is created by labor and the results of labor. William Petty suggested that the ban on the export of money is a stupid and pointless exercise. He also believed that trade was not beneficial for the economy, so he proposed to "dissolve" part of the merchants. According to Petty, the salary of a worker is the price of his labor, which must be enough for the existence of himself and his family.

In one of his books, Petty was able to explain how to separate what the earth produced from what labor produced. Rent, in his opinion, is the excess of the product over the cost of its production. This gave impetus to a new theory of classical political economy. Petty created "Political Arithmetic"

29 (70s of the XNUMXth century), in which econometrics and statistics originate. Also, William Petty was engaged in research in the field of trade duties and tax duties. He believed that people caught stealing should be given into slavery to work.

3. The teachings of Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish economist who was called the father of economics due to his work entitled An Inquiry into the Nature of the Wealth of Nations (1776).

He is a representative of the English classical school of political economy. The main idea of this trend is that wealth is created only through production in any area of the economy, and not only in agriculture, as the physiocrats thought.

Adam Smith believed that the most important thing in society is the division of labor by industry, and in each industry by operations. The division of labor allows you to accelerate the pace of production due to the fact that everyone does what he knows best.

In order for there to be as much manufacturing as possible, Smith argued, the government should give enterprising people the opportunity to work. They probably have an economic mindset, as they managed to save money, and can create production, thereby developing the country's economy as a whole.

Adam Smith was sure that the liberal approach is the best (the state does not interfere in anything and gives complete freedom to entrepreneurs).

What modern people call supply and demand, Adam Smith called "the invisible hand of Providence." Any modern person, like Adam Smith in his time, understands that the ultimate goal of an entrepreneur is to get the maximum profit in the shortest possible time. Of course, the law of the market dictates to entrepreneurs its own opinion, when and what products to produce (winter tires are not needed in summer), at what price to sell. Entrepreneurs have to cut prices to be more competitive. None of the entrepreneurs think about how to benefit society, but healthy competition among them provides society with a richer choice of goods and services at lower prices. Thus, competition forces entrepreneurs to try to reduce production costs in order to afford to lower the price without reducing their profits. Such a search leads to the improvement of technology and the search for a cheaper substitute for raw materials.

The interests of the bourgeoisie were to freely hire workers, sell and buy land, enter the foreign market and use their money as they please, and not according to the dictates of the state. All this made the ideas of Adam Smith very attractive to this class.

Adam Smith's writings are so diverse that he became the forefather of two warring trends in economics:

1) the political economy of labor (the division of society into classes with absolutely opposite interests; the exploitative origin of profit under capitalism) (Karl Marx);

2) Economics (principle of "invisible hand"; economic liberalism; competition).

4. The teachings of David Riccardo

David Riccardo (1772-1823) - a representative of the English classical school, a man who did not have a decent education at that time, who was a professional player on the stock exchange, as well as a member of parliament. This is the author of the work “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817), after which economists stopped relying on the work of A. Smith. But he wrote it already when he managed to earn a sufficient fortune on the stock exchange. David Ricciardo became the new and undisputed leader of the classical school. He himself relied on the works of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus, although he outlined his concept much more clearly. David Ricardo tried to explain everything that remained not entirely clear in the works of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus, being their zealous follower. His main themes are the problem of income distribution and land rent.

Here is what constitutes ground rent, according to Riccardo:

1) differential rent - additional income that owners receive due to better lands;

2) bad lands do not give rent;

3) land rent does not affect prices, since prices are set on the basis of worse conditions (yields on poorer land).

David Ricciardo has always feared that the way income is distributed could cause growth to slow down and then stop economic growth. According to Riccardo, due to the growth in production rates, there may be a shortage of land, since their number is limited. This can cause a rise in the price of land, and then the product, thereby reducing the growth of production.

In his theory of income distribution, David Ricciardo made two main conclusions:

1) the price of grain does not depend on the rent paid for the land;

2) if there is more money in the country, then less fertile land has to be used, which will soon lead to a decrease in income.

David Riccardo proposed the theory of "comparative costs". Although the essence of the theory for our time is simple in principle, but for his time it was a real breakthrough: to use the theory of labor distribution not at the level of one state, but at the level of the world economy as a whole. The most important thing is that the government does not impose huge duties on imported and exported goods, thereby helping to reduce their prices. The reduction in prices in itself leads to an improvement in the life of the population.

Authors: Eliseeva E.L., Ronshina N.I.

<< Back: Physiocracy (General characteristics of the physiocrats. The teachings of François Quesnay. The activities of Jacques Turgot)

>> Forward: Classical school after Smith and Ricciardo (The teachings of Jean-Baptiste Say. The economic views of John Stuart Mill. The economic views of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The teachings of Thomas Malthus)

We recommend interesting articles Section Lecture notes, cheat sheets:

▪ Metrology, standardization and certification. Lecture notes

▪ Accounting financial accounting. Crib

▪ Obstetrics and gynecology. Crib

See other articles Section Lecture notes, cheat sheets.

Read and write useful comments on this article.

<< Back

Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:

The existence of an entropy rule for quantum entanglement has been proven 09.05.2024

Quantum mechanics continues to amaze us with its mysterious phenomena and unexpected discoveries. Recently, Bartosz Regula from the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing and Ludovico Lamy from the University of Amsterdam presented a new discovery that concerns quantum entanglement and its relation to entropy. Quantum entanglement plays an important role in modern quantum information science and technology. However, the complexity of its structure makes understanding and managing it challenging. Regulus and Lamy's discovery shows that quantum entanglement follows an entropy rule similar to that for classical systems. This discovery opens new perspectives in the field of quantum information science and technology, deepening our understanding of quantum entanglement and its connection to thermodynamics. The results of the study indicate the possibility of reversibility of entanglement transformations, which could greatly simplify their use in various quantum technologies. Opening a new rule ... >>

Mini air conditioner Sony Reon Pocket 5 09.05.2024

Summer is a time for relaxation and travel, but often the heat can turn this time into an unbearable torment. Meet a new product from Sony - the Reon Pocket 5 mini-air conditioner, which promises to make summer more comfortable for its users. Sony has introduced a unique device - the Reon Pocket 5 mini-conditioner, which provides body cooling on hot days. With it, users can enjoy coolness anytime, anywhere by simply wearing it around their neck. This mini air conditioner is equipped with automatic adjustment of operating modes, as well as temperature and humidity sensors. Thanks to innovative technologies, Reon Pocket 5 adjusts its operation depending on the user's activity and environmental conditions. Users can easily adjust the temperature using a dedicated mobile app connected via Bluetooth. Additionally, specially designed T-shirts and shorts are available for convenience, to which a mini air conditioner can be attached. The device can oh ... >>

Energy from space for Starship 08.05.2024

Producing solar energy in space is becoming more feasible with the advent of new technologies and the development of space programs. The head of the startup Virtus Solis shared his vision of using SpaceX's Starship to create orbital power plants capable of powering the Earth. Startup Virtus Solis has unveiled an ambitious project to create orbital power plants using SpaceX's Starship. This idea could significantly change the field of solar energy production, making it more accessible and cheaper. The core of the startup's plan is to reduce the cost of launching satellites into space using Starship. This technological breakthrough is expected to make solar energy production in space more competitive with traditional energy sources. Virtual Solis plans to build large photovoltaic panels in orbit, using Starship to deliver the necessary equipment. However, one of the key challenges ... >>

Random news from the Archive

namesake letter 16.04.2002

Canadian researchers have found that people are more likely to respond to an email from their namesake than from someone with a completely different last name.

Kenneth Oates and Margo Wilson of McMaster University in Ontario sent out an email to 2960 people with questions about their local sports clubs. Some of the letters were signed by the full namesake of the addressee, some - by a person with the same surname and some - with the same name as the addressee. It turned out that a letter from a namesake is answered 10,3% more often, a letter from a person with the same last name is answered 9% more often than from a "stranger". If only the names of the sender and recipient match, this has little effect on the willingness to respond.

The authors of the study concluded that for many of us, the alleged relationship with the namesake has a certain psychological significance.

Other interesting news:

▪ TI REF1933 - Dual output voltage reference

▪ Computer mouse will evaluate health

▪ The bus recognizes the pedestrian

▪ Sapphire razor

▪ Photos help to believe in lies

News feed of science and technology, new electronics

Interesting materials of the Free Technical Library:

▪ site section Preamplifiers. Article selection

▪ Article Good genius. Popular expression

▪ article Why is it cooler at the top of the mountain? Detailed answer

▪ article Ancient Russian units of measurement. Tourist tips

▪ article Melodious call with a random number generator. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

▪ article Girl in the air without support. Focus Secret

Leave your comment on this article:

All languages of this page

Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews