Classical Economics

Classical economics is a school of thought in economics that flourished, primarily in Britain, in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th century. Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith, Jean Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. These economists produced a theory of market economies as largely self-regulating systems governed by natural laws of production and exchange (famously captured by Adam Smith's metaphor of the invisible hand).

Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776 is usually considered to mark the beginning of classical economics. The fundamental message in Smith's book was that the wealth of any nation was determined not by the gold of the monarch's coffers, but by its national income. This income was in turn based on the labor of its inhabitants, organized efficiently by the division of labor and the use of accumulated capital, which became one classical economics' central concepts.

In terms of economic policy, the classical economists were pragmatic liberals, advocating the freedom of the market, though they saw a role for the state in providing for the common good. Smith acknowledged that there were areas where the market is not the best way to serve the common interest, and he took it as a given that the greater proportion of the costs supporting the common good shiuld be borne by those best able to afford them. He warned repeatedly of the dangers of monopoly, and stressed the importance of competition. In terms of international trade, the classical economists were advocates of free trade, which differentiates them from their mercantilist predecessors, who advocated protectionism.

The designation of Smith, Ricardo, and some earlier economists as "classical" is due to Karl Marx, to distinguish the "greats" of economic theory from their "vulgar" predecessors. There is some debate about what is covered by the term classical economics, particularly when dealing with the period from 1830 - 75, and how classical economics relates to neoclassical economics.

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