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History of economic thought

The history of economic thought is the study of the philosophies of the different thinkers and theories in the subjects that later became political economy and economics, from the ancient world to the present day.

For the study of past economic situations, see Economic history.

This field encompasses many disparate schools of economic thought. Ancient Greek writers such as the philosopher Aristotle examined ideas about the art of wealth acquisition, and questioned whether property is best left in private or public hands. In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas argued that it was a moral obligation of businesses to sell goods at a just price.[1]


In the Western world, economics was not a separate discipline, but part of philosophy until the 18th–19th century Industrial Revolution and the 19th century Great Divergence, which accelerated economic growth.[2]

Classical (18th and 19th century)[edit]

Ferdinando Galiani and On Money[edit]

In 1751, Neapolitan philosopher Ferdinando Galiani published a nearly exhaustive treatise on money called Della Moneta (On Money), 25 years before Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, and therefore is seen as possibly the first truly modern economic analysis. In its five sections, Della Moneta covered all modern aspects of monetary theory, including the value and origin of money, its regulation, and inflation. This text remained cited by various economists for centuries, as wide-ranging a list as Karl Marx and Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter.

. By Gonçalo L. Fonseca.

The History of Economic Thought

Archive for the History of Economic Thought

poster from the 16th century on.

"Family tree" of economics

Archived 26 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine

Pioneers of the social sciences London School of Economics and Political Science