Gonzaga Gutirrez Eco 4325 Dr.

Weston April 6, 2011 History of Economic Thought Time line

Plato 427-347 B.C.
Rejection of private property and institution of Communal Property: The Republic.

Private Property necessary, conducive to progress. Justice in exchange: Exchange must be reciprocal and proportional - equate value of good on the bases of labor and utility. Condemns usury.

Aristotle 384-322 B.C.

Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 A.D.

Private Property does not go against the natural law; it is a necessary evil. Common good takes precedence over the individual.

Inductive reasoning. Emphasis on the necessity of empirical knowledge. Purpose of knowledge is to improve human condition

Frances Bacon 1561-1629 A.D.

Thomas Mun 1571-1641 A.D

Official of the East India Company, best representative of early Mercantilism. Wrote: Englands Treasure by Foreign Trade

Alienable Natural Rights. Asserted the sea was free for all

Hugo Grotius 1583-1645 A.D

Gerard de Malylenes 1586-1626 A.D.

Medieval thinker concerned with usury. Blames English recession on the foreign exchange mechanism. In favor of fixed exchanged rates.

Leviathan: Social contract based on the desire to be protected because the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Natural State is War against all.

Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679 A.D.

Edward Misselden 1608-1654 A.D.

Propagandist. Credited for the first known use of the term balance of trade; regulate imports and encourage exports.

Founder of laissez faire government. First attempt at estimating GDP. Development of Political Arithmetic.

William Petty 1623-1687 A.D.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert 1619-1683 A.D.

Instituted heavy state controlled economy and micromanaging. Controller of finance for Louis XIV.

Defends Private Property. Knowledge is determined by experience through sense perception. Wrote on price theory and political philosophyHuman nature characterized by tolerance and reason

John Locke 1632-1704

Isaac Newton 1643-1727

Revolutionized the way people thought. The world can be explained through general principles and reasoning. Looks for natural order in physical world.

Wrote Fable of the Bees, where vicious behavior by individuals can lead to social benefits. Private vices lead to public benefits.

Bernard Mandeville 1670-1733 A.D.

John Law 1671-1729 A.D.

In charge of Mississippi company, which was responsible for the first public issuance of money, which represented gold.

The source of morality is a sixth moral sense. Moral Philosopher

Anthony Ashley Cooper 1671-1713 A.D.

Richard Cantillon 1680-1734 A.D.

Writer of Essai. Introduces concepts of entrepreneurship and arbitrage.

Great Economic Systematic thinker, who as opposed to Adam Smith had little impact. Selfinterest is the key to inquiry. Introduces Political Economy.

James Stewart 1712-1780 A.D.

Adam Smith 1723-1790 A.D.

Wrote Wealth of the Nations and began classical Economics. Labor is the source of wealth made more productive through specialization and the division of labor. Introduces the concept of the Invisible Hand.

Great Physiocratic thinker and advocate for Economic Liberalism. Advocates for laissez faire government in France.

A.M.J. Turgot 1727-1781 A.D.