Scientific directions in the history of economic doctrines. History of economic doctrines - a brief summary
The thinkers of Ancient Greece not only posed the most complex economic questions, but also gave their answers to them. They introduced the term “economy” and its derivative “economy”. Economy was understood as a science with the help of which one can enrich one’s economy. They also put forward the idea of division of labor, suggested that equality between goods is based on something in common that makes them comparable, and for the first time made a distinction between simple commodity circulation and the circulation of money as capital. The economic discoveries of the thinkers of Ancient Greece contributed to the further development of economic science.
Main article: Economic thought of the Middle Ages
Mercantilism
The essence of mercantilism came down to wealth, primarily to gold, with which one could buy everything, since the money of that time was precious metals.
Physiocracy
Physical economy, physiocracy - an economic school, one of the scientific approaches to the study and organization of economics, the subject of study of which is economic processes measured in physical (natural) quantities and methods of controlling the exchange of matter-energy-momentum-information in human economic activity, subject to the requirements of laws physics.
Classical economic theory
Institutionalism
The concept of institutionalism includes two aspects: “institutions” - norms, customs of behavior in society, and “institutions” - consolidation of norms and customs in the form of laws, organizations, institutions.
The meaning of the institutional approach is not to be limited to the analysis of economic categories and processes in their pure form, but to include institutions in the analysis and take into account non-economic factors.
Mainstream
The set of main currents of modern economic thought in the West is called mainstream (English) Russian.
The strongest scientific movement at the moment [ ] in the world is neoclassical. Last 10 years [ ] were marked by the flourishing of new institutionalism, but the final victory of this school in the “battle for minds” has not yet occurred. Also now they have their active followers of Keynes’s ideas, which are taking shape in the form of a new school - new Keynesianism.
There was competition between schools, but many schools that existed at the same time did not compete with each other, as they studied various aspects of economics.
Research on Economic Doctrines
According to the greatest historian of economic thought Joseph Schumpeter, the first publications devoted to the study of the history of economic concepts were the articles of the French physiocrat Pierre Dupont de Nemours in the journal Ephemerides in 1767 and 1768. Also, a serious analysis of early economic views was carried out by the founder of modern economic theory, Adam Smith, in his 1776 treatise “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” The Scottish scientist in this work examines the main concepts of that time - mercantilism and physiocracy.
In the 18th century, along with the development of economic theory, works devoted to the study of already established economic doctrines appeared. Thus, in 1824−1825, reviews of the economic views of J. R. McCulloch, a follower of D. Ricardo, appeared. In 1829, the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say dedicated the 6th volume of his “Complete Course of Practical Political Economy” to the history of science. In 1837, “History of Political Economy in Europe” by the French economist Jerome Blanqui was published. In 1845, another work by J. R. McCulloch, “Political Economic Literature,” was published. Also, an analysis of economic views can be found in the 1848 book of the German economist Bruno Hildebrand “Political Economy of the Present and the Future” and the publications of his compatriot Wilhelm Roscher. In 1850-1868, several articles were published devoted to a review of the economic doctrines of the Italian scientist Francesco Ferrara. In 1858, the Russian economist I.V. Vernadsky published “Essay on the History of Political Economy.” In 1871, the German philosopher Eugen Dühring published “Critique of the History of National Economy and Socialism,” and in 1888, the book “History of Political Economy” by the Irish economist J. C. Ingram was published.
In the 19th century, economic theory appeared in the form of separate courses at university law faculties, then special economic faculties appeared, and a circle of professional economists was formed. Thus, in 1805, the English economist Thomas Malthus became a professor of modern history and political economy at the College of the British East India Company; in 1818, the position of professor of moral philosophy and political economy appeared at Columbia University in New York; in 1819, the French scientist Jean-Baptiste Say took the chair of industrial economics at the Paris Conservatoire of Arts and Crafts. Political economy began to be taught as a special subject in 1825 at Oxford, in 1828 at University College London, and in 1832 at the University of Dublin.
Among Russian works on the history of economic doctrines of the 19th and early 20th centuries, “Essay on the History of Political Economy” of 1883 by I. I. Ivanyukova, “History of Political Economy” of 1892 by A. I. Chuprov, “History of Political Economy” of 1900 by L. V. stand out. . Fedorovich and “History of Political Economy. Philosophical, historical and theoretical beginnings of the economy of the 19th century.” 1909 by A. N. Miklashevsky. As part of the book “Economic Essays”, the Russian scientist V.K. Dmitriev analyzes the main provisions of the theory of labor value and rent of D. Ricardo, the concept of distribution of J. von Thunen, the model of competition of O. Cournot and the main provisions of marginalism using mathematical methods. A valuable contribution to the study of the history of economic theories of ancient China was made by V. M. Stein, who translated and studied the economic chapters of the ancient Chinese monument “Guanzi”.
The great English economist Alfred Marshall also made his contribution to this area of economic knowledge, who included an appendix entitled “Development of Economic Science” in his 1891 treatise “Principles of Economic Science”. "History of the Theories of Production and Distribution in English Political Economy from 1776 to 1848." English economist E. Kennan, published in 1893, contains an interpretation of the ideas of D. Ricardo,
Explores under the influence of what conditions views on economic reality change, how interpretations of basic categories evolve, and methods of economic research are improved.
When you first get acquainted with the history of economic teachings, you get the impression that it is impossible to comprehend it, since the number of ideas, authors, theories is unusually large, but it gradually becomes obvious that there are not so many new ideas and revolutionary breakthroughs. Economic theory is quite easy to systematize.
The history of economic teachings represents the stages of knowledge of economic science, helps to understand the logic, the relationship of economic categories, laws, and concepts.
Familiarity with various directions in economic science allows us to more fully understand the relationship of theoretical views and concepts with the conditions and reasons for their emergence, the needs of economic practice, and the interests of various peoples and countries. It is important to understand the sequence, the reasons for the evolution of scientific positions, ideas, their connection with the ongoing changes in economic practice.
Studying the history of economic doctrines allows us to distinguish two types of analysis: positive and normative. Positive economics- part of economics that studies facts and dependencies between these facts. Normative theory deals with judgments about whether economic conditions or policies are good or bad; these judgments are advisory in nature, talking about how the world should be. Economic science was divided into theoretical (positive) and practical (normative) at the end of the 19th century. during the period of the emergence and development of the historical school, which set the direction for the development of the applied part.
The authors of the most significant economic theories are laureates Prize in memory of A. Nobel, which since 1969 has been awarded for achievements in the field of economic sciences. The course on the history of economic doctrines examines the most striking of them.
It took hundreds of years for today's directions of economic thought: neoclassical, Marxist, neo-Keynesian, institutional and neo-institutional, neoliberal. The body of knowledge on the history of economic doctrines is an integral part of universal human culture, including economic culture.
Subject of the history of economic doctrines
The history of economic thought begins from those immemorial times when people first thought about the goals of their actions, the ways and means of achieving them, as well as the relationships that develop between people in the process and as a result of the production and distribution of goods, the exchange of produced products and services.
Economic thought is a very broad concept. These are ideas that exist in the mass consciousness, and religious assessments and prescriptions that relate to economic relations, these are the theoretical constructions of scientists, and the economic programs of political parties.
The sphere of economic thought is also diverse, the field of application, reflection and conclusions, and practical solutions. Here are general patterns, and economic features of individual industries, and problems of production location, and monetary circulation and the efficiency of capital investments, and the tax system, and economic legislation.
Economic teachings are theoretical concepts that reflect the basic laws of economic life, describing the relationships between its subjects, identifying the driving forces and significant factors in the creation, distribution and exchange of goods.
Economic teachings are younger than economic thought. The history of economic doctrines begins in the 16th century.
The subject of the course on the history of economic doctrines is the process of emergence, development and change of economic ideas and views as changes occur in the economy, science, technology and social sphere. These ideas are studied in the theories of individual economists, theoretical schools, trends and directions.
Studying this course is an important tool for identifying objective patterns in the development of both the global and domestic economies. In addition, knowledge in the field of the evolution of the history of economic doctrines forms in the economist the necessary erudition and creative skills that allow him to freely navigate the problems of economic theory, compare alternative theoretical approaches and make independent decisions on the practical implementation of current economic problems.
The amount of knowledge on the history of economic doctrines is an integral part of economic culture. In the process of studying it, one should refer to the scientific biographies of famous economists, who are of both scientific and practical interest to readers.
Directions and stages of development of economic thought
To overcome the tendentious approach to analyzing the evolution of economic doctrines means, first of all, to recognize as erroneous the ideas of classifying economic theory according to the class formation principle (the theory of “bourgeois”, “petty-bourgeois”, “proletarian” or “capitalist” and “socialist”), including far-fetched ideas contrasting economic theory on a geographical basis (“domestic theory” and “Western theory”). In this context, we are talking about the fact that it is advisable to carry out the structuring of economic thought along the main directions and stages of its evolution taking into account the best socio-economic achievements of world civilization and the totality that determine the renewal and change of the economic theory of factors of historical, economic and social nature.
The structure of the course on the history of economic studies proposed on this site consists of an introductory and three main sections. Its novelty, in contrast to publications of the Soviet period and even a number of works of recent years, lies, first of all, in the rejection of the criterion of class socio-economic formations (slave, feudal, capitalist) and in highlighting the position of specific qualitative transformations in economics and economic theory from the times of the pre-market economy to the era of the liberal (unregulated), and then the socially oriented or, as they often say, regulated market economy.
Accordingly, these are the following main structural units of the course:
- section of economic doctrines of the pre-market economy era;
- a section on economic teachings from the era of an unregulated market economy;
- section of economic teachings of the regulated (socially oriented) era.
Here, however, two circumstances should be clarified. Firstly, the eras of pre-market and market economies are supposed to be distinguished based on the predominance of natural-economic or commodity-money relations in society. And, secondly, the era of an unregulated and regulated market economy must be distinguished not by whether there is state intervention in economic processes, but by whether the state provides the conditions for demonopolization of the economy and social control over the economy.
Let us now briefly characterize the sequence and essence of the directions and stages of development of economic thought within the framework of the above sections of the course.
1. Economic teachings of the pre-market economy era. This era includes the periods of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, during which natural-economic social relations prevailed, and reproduction was predominantly extensive. Economic thought in this era was expressed, as a rule, by philosophers and religious figures. The level of systematization of economic ideas and concepts they achieved did not provide sufficient prerequisites for isolating the theoretical constructs of that time into an independent branch of science specializing purely in economic problems.
This era ends with a special stage in the evolution of both economics and economic thought. From the point of view of economic history, this stage in Marxist economic literature is called the period of primitive accumulation of capital and the emergence of capitalism; according to the non-class formation position, this is the period of transition to a market economic mechanism. From the point of view of the history of economic thought, this stage is called mercantilism and is also interpreted in two ways; in the Marxist version - as the period of the birth of the first school of economic theory of capitalism (bourgeois political economy), and in the non-class formation version - as the period of the first theoretical concept of a market economy.
Mercantilism, which originated in the depths of the natural economy, became the stage of large-scale (nationwide) testing of protectionist measures in the sphere of industry and foreign trade and the understanding of economic development in the conditions of emerging business activity. And since the mercantilist concept actually begins counting its time from the 16th century, the beginning of the separate development of economic theory as an independent branch of science is most often attributed to this milestone.
In particular, at the dawn of its historical ascent, economic science, based on mercantilist postulates, promoted the expediency of state regulatory influence through economic motives and transactions so that “new” relations, later called either “market” or “capitalist”, would spread to all aspects of public relations of the state.
2. Economic teachings of the era of unregulated market economy. The time frame of this era covers the period from approximately the end of the 12th century. until the 30s XX century, during which the theories of leading schools and directions of economic thought were dominated by the motto of complete “laissez faire” - a phrase meaning absolute non-interference of the state in business life, or, which is the same thing, the principle of economic liberalism.
In this era, thanks to the industrial revolution, the economy made a transition from the manufacturing stage to the so-called industrial stage of its evolution. Having reached its apogee at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the industrial type of management also underwent qualitative modification and acquired the characteristics of a monopolized type of economy.
But it was precisely the designated types of economy, determined by the predominance of the idea of self-regulation of the free competition economy, that predetermined the originality of the postulates and the historically established sequence of dominance in the economic science of this era, first of classical political economy, and then of neoclassical economic theory.
Classical political economy occupied the “commanding heights” in economic theory for almost 200 years - from the end of the 17th century. to the second half of the 19th century, essentially laying the foundations for modern economic science. Its leaders, in many ways rightfully condemning the protectionism of the mercantilists, thoroughly opposed the anti-market reform concepts of the first half of the 19th century. in the works of their contemporaries, both from among supporters of the transition to a society of social justice on the basis of recreating the leading role in the economy of small-scale commodity production, and ideologists of utopian socialism, who called for universal approval by humanity of the advantages of such a socio-economic structure of society in which there would be no money or private property , exploitation and other “evils” of the capitalist present.
At the same time, the “classics” completely unjustifiably overlooked the importance of searching for the relationship and interdependence of factors of the economic environment with factors of national-historical and social properties, insisting on the inviolability of the principles of “pure” economic theory and not taking seriously the fairly successful developments in this direction in the works authors of the so-called German historical school in the second half of the 19th century.
Replaced at the end of the 19th century. classical political economy, neoclassical economic theory became its successor, primarily due to the preservation of “fidelity” to the ideals of “pure” economic science. At the same time, it clearly surpassed its predecessor in many theoretical and methodological aspects. The main thing in this regard was the introduction into the tools of economic analysis of marginal (limit) principles based on the mathematical “language”, which gave the new (neoclassical) economic theory a greater degree of reliability and contributed to the isolation of an independent section within it - microeconomics.
3. Economic teachings of the regulated era(socially oriented) market economy. This era - the era of the modern history of economic teachings - dates back to the 20-30s. XX century, i.e. since the time when anti-monopoly concepts and ideas of social control of society over the economy fully emerged, shedding light on the inconsistency of the lassez faire principle and targeting various measures of demonopolization of the economy through government intervention in the economy. These measures are based on significantly more advanced analytical constructs provided for in economic theories updated on the basis of a synthesis of the entire set of factors of social relations.
In this regard, we mean, firstly, the new that developed by the 30s. XIX century the social-institutional direction of economic thought, which in its three identified scientific movements is often simply called American institutionalism, secondly, evidential theoretical justifications for the functioning of market economic structures in conditions of imperfect (monopolistic) competition that appeared in 1933 and, finally, thirdly , which also originated in the 30s. two alternative directions to each other (Keynesian and neoliberal) theories of state regulation of the economy, which gave independent status to another section of economic theory - macroeconomics.
As a result, over the last seven to eight decades of the ending 20th century. economic theory was able to bring to the attention of the public a number of fundamentally new and extraordinary scenarios of possible options (models) for the growth of the national economy of states in the context of unprecedented problems they were experiencing before, caused by the consequences of the modern scientific and technological revolution. The economic science of our days is closer than ever to developing the most reliable “recipes” on the way to erasing social contrasts in a civilized society and forming a truly new way of life and thinking in it.
For example, now economists in many countries, in designating the past and future state of society, no longer resort to contrasting (at least explicitly) the former antipodes of economic theory with each other - “capitalism” and “socialism” and, accordingly, “capitalist” and “socialist” theory." Instead, theoretical research on “market economics” or “market economic relations” is becoming widespread in economic literature.
Finally, it should be noted that through the non-class structure of the course on the history of economic doctrines proposed in this educational manual, the solution to a two-pronged task is pursued, namely, to substantiate that de-ideologized principles of periodization of the directions and stages of the evolution of economic thought are necessary as the times of the prehistory of the market economy and market economic theory , as well as today’s realities in the theory and practice of a regulated (socially oriented) market and that the criterion for the progress of science and truth should never be either “universal consent” or “consent of the majority”.
History of economic doctrines
Introduction
The history of economic doctrines is only part of the history of economic thought.
The history of economic thought begins from those time immemorial, when people first thought about the goals of their economic activities, the ways and means of achieving them, the relationships that develop between people in the process and as a result of the extraction and distribution of goods, the exchange of produced products and services.
Economic thought is an extremely broad concept. These are ideas that exist in the mass consciousness, and religious assessments, and prescriptions concerning economic relations, and theoretical designs of scientists, and economic programs of political parties... The sphere of economic thought is diverse: here are the general laws of the economy, and the peculiarities of the economy of individual industries, and problems location of production, and money circulation, and the efficiency of capital investments, and the tax system, and methods of accounting for income and expenses, and the history of the economy, and economic legislation - you can’t list everything.
In this entire complex set, it is possible, with a certain convention, to identify economic doctrines - theoretical concepts reflecting the basic laws of economic life, describing the relationships between its subjects, identifying the driving forces and significant factors in the creation, distribution and exchange of goods.
Economic teachings are much younger than economic thought. The history of economic doctrines begins in the 16th century; its origins are inextricably linked with the formation of a capitalist commodity economy.
This course contains a brief description of the most important theoretical positions and methodological guidelines of various scientific schools that have left a significant mark in the history of economic teachings.
Section 1. The formation of economic thought.
Topic 1.1. Subject of the history of economic science
At first glance, defining the subject of the history of economic doctrines is not particularly difficult: it is a chronological description, including comments on the most productive attempts to create more and more accurate and correct economic views.
However, this understanding of economic science requires clarification. First of all, over the centuries the concept has changed subject economic theory. In the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, the subject of economics was the study of "the nature and causes of the wealth of nations." In the last quarter of the 19th century, economics began to be seen as the science of human behavior in pursuit of specific goals and the use of limited resources. In the 20th century, economic theories became more sophisticated. Statistical and analytical methods have emerged that can solve problems that were inaccessible to their predecessors.
It is important to understand the methods of cognition of economic science, which allow us to highlight the essence in various economic theories, look at them from different angles, and try to understand how this or that theory would manifest itself in different historical eras. You need to know that the main methods are:
1. The method of scientific abstraction - expresses deep, cause-and-effect relationships and patterns of economic development. This is a movement from the abstract to the concrete, from the general to the particular.
2. Dialectical - emergence, origin, maturity, death of economic phenomena, struggle of opposites, resolution of contradictions, etc.
3. Analysis and synthesis - identifying the most characteristic features in the essence of phenomena, formulating laws and patterns.
4. The induction method is the derivation of a theory from facts and observations.
5. Deduction method - formulating hypotheses and confirming them with facts.
There are also systemic, historical, logical and other methods.
Topic 1.2. Economic teachings of the ancient world.
The first large centers of civilization arose in the territory of Ancient Asia. Slavery achieved significant development, and the first slave states arose. The most significant of them are:
Kingdom of Babylon - Code of King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). The code of laws of King Hammurabi gives an idea that the division of society into slaves and slave owners was recognized as natural and eternal. Slaves were equated to the property of slave owners, and concern for the protection of private property and the development of monetary relations was reflected. The basis of the economy of the Babylonian kingdom was subsistence farming.
Ancient China - Confucianism, a teaching created by Confucius (551-479 BC). He proceeded from the fact that the basis of the social structure is the divine principle. Confucius considered the division of society into “nobles”, who make up the upper class, and “common people”, whose lot is physical labor. His teachings are aimed at strengthening the emerging slave system, strengthening the authority of the state and the power of the supreme ruler of China.
Ancient India - treatise "Arthashastra", author Kautilya (late 4th - early 3rd century BC). The treatise talks about social inequality, justifies and consolidates it. The main branch of the economy was agriculture, the construction of irrigation systems, crafts and trade developed, and the idea of active government intervention in the economy was pursued. If a resident of India became a slave, then he could have his own slaves.
Ancient Greece - the greatest role in the formation of the teachings of the Ancient
Greece was played by Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle.
Xenophon (430-355 BC) student of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. His economic views are set out in his work “Domostroy,” which contained numerous advice to slave owners, whose lot was managing the economy, exploiting slaves, but not physical labor. He considered agriculture to be the main branch of the economy. He was the first to notice that the division of labor contributes to the prosperity of production. Crafts and trade were not considered worthy activities.
Plato (427-347 BC) first expressed the idea of the inevitability of dividing the state into two parts: rich and poor. Only foreigners could be slaves. He considered agriculture to be the main branch of the economy, but he also approved of crafts. Plato considered slaves to be the main productive force.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) is known as the educator of Alexander the Great. His views on slavery coincide with those of Xenophon and Plato. Aristotle's merit is his attempt to penetrate into the essence of economic phenomena. He divided wealth into natural and monetary. He considered the natural to be true, because wealth has its limits, but monetary wealth has no such limits. Based on this, he introduced the concepts of “economy” and “chresmatics” and explained the need for the circulation of money in the economic sphere.
Ancient Rome completed the development of economic thought of the Ancient World, reflecting the next stage in the evolution of slavery.
Cato the Elder (234-149 BC) considered the issues of keeping slaves and methods of their exploitation. He argued for the need for harsh exploitation of slaves. His ideal was subsistence farming, but trade was not excluded.
Varro (116-27 BC) reflected more advanced forms of slavery, in which slave owners placed their affairs in the hands of managers. His concerns are related to strengthening subsistence farming.
Columella (1st century AD) reflected the crisis of slavery: the low productivity of slave labor, during
Topic 1.3. Economic thought of the era of feudalism.
The Middle Ages covers a large historical period: in Western Europe - from the 5th century to the bourgeois revolutions of the 17th-18th centuries; in Russia - from the 9th century to the reform of 1861.
The politics of the Middle Ages were associated with the defense of the feudal order, according to which subsistence farming was considered a virtue, and trade and usury were not encouraged. The church had exclusive rights, so the economic thought of this period was clothed in a religious shell. The originality of economic thought was clearly reflected in the teachings of Catholicism. The Church strengthened its power, and possessing enormous wealth and land ownership, justified the rule of serfdom and defended its positions with the help of church rules - canons.
Played a huge role in the formation of the teachings of the era of feudalism Thomas Aquinas(1225-1275), who created the extensive work “Summa Theologies”. His teachings are still widely used by the Vatican. He considered such issues as social inequality, fair price, property, interest, profit, etc.
Aquinas argued that people are born different by nature, therefore peasants should engage in physical labor, and the privileged classes should engage in spiritual activities.
IN private property he saw the basis of the economy and believed that man has the right to appropriate wealth. Consequently, property necessary to satisfy needs is natural and necessary.
Fair price On the one hand, it consists of the correct price, i.e. production costs, on the other hand, it must guarantee the exchange participants an existence worthy of their rank.
Profit, received by merchants, can be considered as payment for their labor.
Aquinas tried to find a compromise regarding the collection percent, which was prohibited by the church. It justifies the interest; it is a reward for the fact that the creditor is deprived of possible income from the use of his funds.
The economic thought of the Russian state also existed in close connection with the religious views of people. Information about that time can be obtained from chronicles, charters of princes, and church literature. The first set of laws is “ Russian truth"(11th-13th century), reflecting the practical level achieved by economic thought by this time. It recorded the process of feudalization of the state, gave a legal definition of natural economy, contained norms of trade and protection of the interests of Russian merchants, the right to collect taxes, duties in kind, etc.
The economic interests of the landed nobility in the 16th century were expressed Ermolai Erasmus in labor " Ruler" This is the first economic and political treatise in Russia, which sets out a system of measures to solve the main issues of that time. Much attention is paid to the question of the situation of the peasant masses. Erasmus proposed to reduce or exempt them from monetary payments and transfer them to the shoulders of the urban population. He proposed a reform in the field of land ownership - the distribution of land to peasants and service people.
The first Russian economist is called I. T. Pososhkova. His book " About poverty and wealth"is the first work entirely devoted to the problems of economic development of Russia. The main idea of the book is to eliminate poverty and increase wealth.
He saw the main reasons for the country's economic backwardness in the difficult situation of the peasants and the underdevelopment of the financial system. He condemned capitation tax, because it did not take into account differences in the economic status of payers.
He attached primary importance trade: defended the interests of merchants, proposed to establish firm and uniform prices for goods, control the progress of trade, and instead of many duties, establish one - in the amount of 10%. He forbade the export of raw materials and strictly selected exported goods.
Pososhkov advocated the development of agriculture, industry, factories, and respect for nature and its resources.
He did not identify wealth with money, but believed that “ a state is rich when its people are rich ».
The reform activities of Peter 1 were reflected in Pososhkov’s work.
Topic 1.4. Mercantilism.
The first school of economics was mercantilism, which became widespread in many countries until the end of the 17th century. He expressed the interests of merchant capital, and wealth was identified with gold and silver. The source of wealth was foreign trade. The state was supposed to facilitate the influx of gold and silver from abroad. In its development, mercantilism went through two stages: early and developed.
Early mercantilism- monetary system, characterized by the concept of monetary balance. Its prominent representative is William Stafford (England). According to this concept, the task of accumulating monetary wealth in the country was solved mainly by administrative measures that ensured strict regulation of money circulation and foreign trade. Monetarists, viewing gold as a treasure, an absolute form of wealth, looked for ways to bring it in from abroad and retain it within the country. The export of money outside the borders of this state was strictly prohibited, the activities of foreign merchants were strictly controlled, the import of foreign goods was limited, high duties were established, etc.
Developed mercantilism- manufacturing system, differs in ways of accumulating wealth. Instead of administrative methods of accumulation, economic methods come to the fore. Mercantilists refused to ban the export of gold outside the country. They outlined measures to stimulate foreign trade, which was supposed to ensure a constant flow of gold into the country. The basic rule of foreign trade was the excess of exports over imports. To ensure its implementation, the mercantilists cared about the development of manufacturing production, internal trade, the growth of not only exports, but also the import of goods, the purchase of raw materials abroad, and the rational use of money. A ban on the export of raw materials was maintained, the import of a number of goods, especially luxury goods, was limited, high import duties were established, etc. The mercantilists demanded that the royal government encourage the development of national industry and trade, the production of goods for export, maintain high customs duties, build and strengthen the fleet, and expand external expansion.
Mercantilism in individual countries had its own characteristics:
England: mature mercantilism is represented by T. Men. T. Men was a major businessman of his time, one of the directors of the East India Company. He considered strict regulation of monetary circulation harmful and advocated the free export of coins. His rule: “Sell more to foreign countries than buy from them.” Men believed that the ban on the export of money abroad hampered the demand for English goods, and an excess of money in the country led to rising prices.
Due to the fact that England was ahead of other countries in the world in its capitalist development, the mercantilist program turned out to be the most effective here. Its implementation contributed to the creation of conditions for the transformation of England into the first industrial power in the world.
France: A. Montchretien created the work “Treatise of Political Economy”, in which he recommended active government intervention in the economy. He considered merchants to be the most useful class, and trade was the main purpose of crafts. He advised strengthening manufactories, creating craft schools, and improving the quality of products. The doctrine of mercantilism was persistently enforced in the second half of the 17th century. the period of the reign of Cardinal Richelieu (1624-1642) and the activities of the Minister of Finance of Louis XIV Colbert (1661-1683). Efforts were made to create manufacturing production, conditions that contributed to its growth (providing loans, various benefits to industrialists and traders, attracting foreign craftsmen, etc.) France built a fleet, created colonial companies, and launched foreign trade activities. With the help of mercantilist policies, Colbert tried to overcome the country's socio-economic lag and catch up with England.
Spain: lingered at the stage of monetarism, according to which the export of gold and silver abroad was strictly persecuted.
Germany: The evolution of mercantilism in Germany, in addition to the factors noted above, was influenced by the political fragmentation of the country. The measures of early mercantilism were combined here with economic policies typical of feudal principalities. They only aggravated the economic chaos that reigned in the country, generated by fragmentation.
Italy: A. Serra published a “Short Treatise”, which reflected the stage of mature mercantilism. A. Serra criticized monetarism. He advocated for the development of handicraft production, encouragement of hard work and ingenuity of the population, the development of trade, and the implementation of favorable economic policies of the government. However, mercantilism did not produce results due to the backwardness of the country's socio-economic development.
Russia: mercantilism was very specific. The predominantly agricultural nature of the country posed problems that did not fit into the concept of mercantilism. I. Pososhkov and A. Ordyn-Nashchekin developed a number of reforms that significantly moved Russia forward.
Section 2. Classical economic school.
Topic 2.1. Founders of the classical school.
The classical school is a new stage in the development of economic science. In contrast to mercantilism, the emphasis is on production as the basis of the economy. Trade is relegated to the background. Two countries took part in the development of the classical direction - England and France. England in the 17th century, France in the 18th century. The founder of this trend in England was W. Petty, in France - P. Boisguillebert. The English classical school considered both agriculture and industry important, the French - agriculture.
W. Petty initially shared the mercantilists’ thesis about the accumulation of gold and silver in the country. He distinguished between natural and market prices. He believed that money expresses a measure of value. The value of a commodity produced by a person in a certain time is equal to the value of the amount of gold and silver that another person can mine, transport and mint into coins from in the same time. Later, he advocated the labor theory of value.
The founder of this direction was P. Boisguillebert. He criticized mercantilism, considering it to be the culprit in the country's difficult economic situation. Boisguillebert considered money to be the main reason for this condition. The only function of money, in his opinion, is the function of exchange, and the value of a product is created by labor, regardless of whether the product is sold.
Topic 2.2. Physiocratism.
The Physiocrats school formed in the mid-18th century and translates as “power of nature.” The leader of the school of physiocrats was F. Quesnay. He sees the material side of wealth: exchange and industry cannot create wealth, because trade only moves the product, and industry only transforms the substance, adding nothing. Matter grows where nature works. The net income of society is created only in agriculture. According to Quesnay, society was divided into 3 classes:
Owners - nobility, clergy, king, officials;
Farmers are capitalists and wage workers;
The barren are the commercial and industrial population of the country.
He presented a model of the relationship between these classes in the form of an economic table. This model is extremely simplified: it reflects only simple reproduction, i.e. reproduction that repeats from cycle to cycle unchanged.
He completed the teachings of the physiocrats A. R. J. Turgot, who brought the physiocratic system to its most mature form. He considered the reasons for the emergence of wage labor, industrial and commercial profits, wages, etc.
Topic 2.3. English classical school.
The leader of this school is A. Smith. He is the author of the book " Research on the nature and causes of the wealth of nations", which consists of 5 books. Smith reviewed division of labor and showed its influence on the growth of labor productivity.
Money he considered it a commodity that can be exchanged for any other commodity. Only gold and silver coins can be in circulation.
He was the first to define cost, as the sum of two types of income: wages, profit and rent.
Capital is the sum of the means of production. It is divided into constant and variable.
Salary- this is the amount of money that a hired worker receives for his work.
Profit- this is the result of the unpaid labor of the worker, appropriated by the capitalist.
Rent- the result of a worker’s unpaid labor, appropriated by the landowner.
Work can be productive or unproductive. The result of productive labor is a material product, so it is exchanged for capital. The result of unproductive labor is services, so it is exchanged for income.
Profit decreases if the price of one product increases; and does not change if the price of all goods increases.
D. Ricardo supplemented and corrected some provisions of A. Smith’s work in the book “ Beginnings of political economy and taxation", which consists of 32 chapters.
He criticized A. Smith for an inaccurate definition cost and believed that value is primary and cannot be determined by income.
He carried out the analysis money circulation and came to the conclusion that not only gold and silver, but also paper money could be in circulation if their quantity was limited. An increase in paper money in circulation may lead to an increase in prices.
Salary- this is the price of labor and it is related to the movement of the working population. It can be natural (equal to the cost of necessary consumer goods) and market (equal to the amount of money received by workers).
Capital and profit he characterizes similarly to Smith, but believes that profit decreases if the price of one product increases; and if the price of all goods increases.
Topic 2.3. Utopian socialism.
Utopian socialism went through 2 stages of development: early (15th century) and late (18th-19th centuries). Utopia is “nowhere”, i.e. a place that doesn't exist.
Representatives early utopian socialism were T. Mohr and T. Campanella. T. More is the greatest humanist of England, the right hand of the king, the author of the book “Utopia”. In it, he describes a non-existent city in which there is universal equality and happiness. For this book T. Mor was executed. T. Campanella, author of the book “City of the Sun,” spent 27 years in dungeons. The ideas in this book are very similar to those expressed by T. More. But neither More nor Campanella knew the ways to achieve such a future.
Representatives late utopian socialism are: A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier, R. Owen.
A. Saint-Simon considered consistent historicism, i.e. believed that each subsequent system should be better than the previous one. The feudal system is better than the slave system, the capitalist system is better than the feudal system. But the capitalist system has not justified itself, so it must be replaced by the industrial system. At the present stage, industrialists should be in power, not the bourgeoisie. Therefore, a new system is needed - industrialism. In the new society, large industry will be controlled from a single center and function according to a single plan. Private property is preserved provided that the owners comply with the general plan. Capitalists must voluntarily transfer their funds to the people.
S. Fourier condemns capitalism for the disparity of interests between the rich minority and the impoverished majority. Therefore, a new system is needed, the basis of which will be small self-governing communities of up to 2000 people. The main activity of the community will be agriculture, and industry will complement it. People will change jobs several times a day. All property will become public. People will constantly change houses, furniture and other things. The day needed to organize the phalanx will be provided by the capitalists, who will become members of the community. The capitalists themselves will become members of the community and will obey the general plan.
R. Owen believed that value under capitalism is determined by money, not labor. Money does not reflect labor costs and workers do not receive true rewards. Therefore, money must be abolished and replaced with receipts, which will indicate the labor costs of workers, and with which it will be possible to purchase any a product of equal labor cost. Owen conducted an experiment in a factory in Scotland and proved that it was possible to significantly improve the lives of workers. The new system will be based on common labor, common property, equality in rights and responsibilities.
Topic 2.4. Marxist political economy
This doctrine was created by K. Marx with the direct participation of his friend and comrade-in-arms F. Engels.
Marx drew from three scientific sources: the English classical political economy of Smith and Ricardo, the German classical philosophy of Hegel, and utopian socialism. He borrowed the labor theory of value from Smith and Ricardo. The second - the ideas of dialectics and materialism, the third - the concept of class struggle, elements of the sociological structure of society.
When feudalism collapsed and a “free” capitalist society emerged, it became clear that this was a new system of exploitation and oppression of working people. He criticized capitalism, dreamed of destroying it, but could not find a class in society capable of overthrowing the oppressors. Marx’s genius lies in the fact that, before others, he was able to see the “locomotives of history” in revolutions, and was able to formulate the doctrine of class struggle. People will always be victims of deception or self-deception in politics if they do not learn from certain phrases, promises, etc. see the interests of certain classes.
The development of productive forces determines the change in production relations and thereby socio-economic formations. But, developing productive forces to colossal proportions, capitalism becomes increasingly entangled in contradictions that are insoluble for it. These irreconcilable contradictions between the social nature of production and private capitalist appropriation make themselves felt in periodic crises of overproduction, when capitalists, not finding effective demand, are forced to stop production, drive workers out of the gates of enterprises, and destroy productive forces. This also means that capitalism is fraught with a revolution designed to replace capitalist ownership of the means of production with socialist ownership.
That. Communist society must inevitably replace capitalism. Communist society in its development will go through 2 stages: socialism and communism. At the first stage, private property will disappear, and distribution will be carried out according to labor. In the second, commodity-money relations will disappear, and distribution according to labor will be replaced by distribution according to needs.
"Capital"
First volume called "", it was published in 1867.
1. Product- has properties: satisfies needs, exchanges, natural properties (signs, characteristics), social properties (relations between people).
2. Transforming money into capital:
T-D-T’ sale of goods for the purchase of another product, i.e. satisfaction of needs. Money in this case is an intermediary.
M-T-M’ general formula for the movement of capital, i.e. goods are purchased in order to sell them at a higher price. Money in this case is the goal of production.
3. Production of surplus value- value is created by labor. Labor is dual in nature: on the one hand, it is concrete labor, as a result of which a specific product is produced, on the other, it is abstract labor, i.e. expenditure of effort and energy, and this makes the products of labor comparable.
4. Constant and variable capital:
Constant capital- this is the part of capital that does not change its value during the production process. These are raw materials, materials, etc.
Variable capital- this is the part of capital that changes its value during the production process. This is work.
5. Rate of surplus value- m. Npr depends on variable capital: Npr = m / V. Labor is divided into necessary and surplus.
Necessary Labor(working time) - part of the day during which the reproduction process occurs, i.e. the worker spends on himself.
Surplus labor(working hours) - outside the required working hours, i.e. part of the day during which a worker produces surplus value.
6. Working day length:
The working day cannot fall below the required working time, and cannot be higher than 24 hours. The boundaries of the working day are set between these two limits: adults - 15 hours (from 5.30 to 20.30), teenagers - 12 hours, children - 8 hours. Only men work the night shift.
7. Relative surplus value- necessary + surplus labor. Absolute achieved by lengthening the working day. If labor is paid according to the value of labor, then surplus value can be obtained either through an absolute lengthening of the working day or through an increase in labor productivity.
8. Transformation of surplus value into capital:
Surplus value can only be converted into capital because it contains the same elements - labor costs. Surplus value is divided into capital and income, i.e. accumulates.
Second volume is called " Capital circulation process", it was published in 1885.
Capital is a value that brings surplus value. This volume examines industrial capital.
1. Metamorphoses of capital and its circulation:
D-T...P-T'-D' with money, goods are purchased in the form of labor and means of production. Then the movement of capital is interrupted and the production process begins. As a result, a new type of product is obtained and exchanged for money of a larger mass, and the movement of capital is resumed. Added value appears. That. There are 3 forms of capital - money, commodity and production.
2. Fixed and working capital:
Basic- constantly participates in the production process. Negotiable- in one production cycle.
2. Production costs- production, storage costs, transport costs.
3. Capital turnover:
Capital turnover time- this is the time from the moment it is advanced into production until the moment it is returned in the same form. Fixed and working capital are included only in the production form of capital. The more turnover capital makes, the higher the surplus value.
4. Reproduction and circulation of social capital:
Social capital is formed as a result of the interweaving of individual capitals. Social capital - W = C + V + m = K + p. It consists of the production of means of production and the production of means of consumption.
Third volume called " The process of capitalist production as a whole", was published in 1894 by F. Engels.
1. The capitalist receives profit because he sold something for which he did not pay. Profit is the excess over the advanced capital. Profit is the converted value of surplus value. Npr = m / V, and profit P = m / C + V. The same surplus value can create more or less profit (depending on the capitalist’s approach).
2. The influence of wages on production prices:
As wages increase, production costs increase and profits decrease. However, if the rate of profit is reduced, then the amount of profit may increase due to the unpaid labor of workers. If the portion of constant capital increases relative to variable capital, then the rate of surplus value will decrease, or the amount of unpaid labor will increase.
3. Trading capital:
Takes 2 forms - commodity-trade and money-trade, i.e. goods are either sold or bought.
4. Loan capital:
With the development of trade, the basis of credit expands, and new means of payment arise - bills of exchange. They form trade money. Lending is about earning interest.
5. Land capital- rent:
Differential rent 1- excess profit received from the best plots of land.
Differential rent 2- excess profit received from the best plots of land through capital investment.
Absolute rent- rent received by all landowners, because the worst areas are also profitable.
Volume four called " The theory of surplus value", it was published in 1905-1910 and is an independent book.
This volume contains criticism of previous economic teachings - A. Smith, D. Ricardo and others.
Genesis capitalist land rent: industry destroys labor power, and agriculture destroys the power of the earth.
Marx's triune formula: capital - profit, land - rent, labor - wages.
Section 3. Neoclassical direction.
Topic 3.1. The emergence of the neoclassical movement.
The neoclassical movement or marginalism appeared in the mid-19th century and is associated with the introduction of the concept of “marginal utility.” This made it possible to create a new tool for analyzing economic reality using mathematical methods. Instead of dynamic problems of the classical school, static problems appeared that allowed mathematical formulations and solutions. At the center of this theory is the behavior of an individual consumer, maximizing his utility from the consumption of goods, and an individual producer, maximizing his profit.
The founder of this direction is Austrian school. The leader of this school K. Menger developed " Table of marginal utilities of goods».
Unit Benefits | |||||
The starting point of the analysis is a person’s attitude towards goods, manifested in the sphere of personal consumption. The subject of analysis is consumer assessments and consumer choice. The value of any good is determined by its ability to satisfy human needs. Value does not depend on the amount of benefit provided, but on the importance of the need that this benefit satisfies. The goods are indicated horizontally in descending order of their usefulness. Vertical - units of consumption of these goods. At the intersection, each unit of each good is valued. He introduced the concepts of “demand price” and “supply price”, analyzed a person’s attitude towards goods, the value of goods, etc. ABOUT.
Böhm-Bawerk introduced additions to the table - not all benefits can be satisfied in stages, and also identified objective and subjective value, formulated a model of market price, developed a theory of capital, as direct and indirect methods of determining needs, etc.
American school- its leader D. Clark. He formulated 3 universal laws operating in the economic sphere in any historical era:
1. The law of marginal utility - each class of buyers spends its money first on the most important products, then on less important ones. Those. marginal utility is the utility of the good that a given class can buy with the last unit of money.
2. The law of specific productivity - 4 factors are always involved in production - labor, land, capital and entrepreneurial activity. The owner of the corresponding factor owns his contribution - labor brings wages, land - rent, capital - interest, entrepreneurial activity - profit.
3. The law of diminishing returns - an increase in any factor of production while the rest remains unchanged gives a diminishing increase in production.
Lausanne school- its leaders are L. Walras and Pareto. L. Walras was the first to develop a closed mathematical model of general economic equilibrium. V. Pareto improved this model and introduced the concept of “preference”. The statement that a given good is more useful than another means that a person prefers this good to another. He owns an assessment of equilibrium, called the “Pareto Optimum” - this is a situation in which it is impossible to improve the well-being of at least one subject without compromising the well-being of another.
Cambridge school- leader - A. Marshall. He synthesized the ideas of the English classical school and the concept of marginalists. He views market equilibrium as the equality of supply and demand prices. He introduced the concept of price elasticity of demand - it expresses the measure by which the volume of demand increases or decreases when demand decreases or decreases. The dynamics of production costs depends on changes in production volumes. Marshall paid much attention to the time factor - in the short term, prices are decisively influenced by changes in demand, in the long term - by changes in supply. Marshall's contribution to economic theory is so great that it is called the "Marshallian revolution."
Topic 3.2. Economic thought of Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky adhered to the social direction, which is based on the theory of distribution. He depicted distribution in the form of a struggle between various social groups for the “division” of the social product. The most important distribution category is salary. Its magnitude is regulated on the one hand by labor productivity, and on the other by the strength of the working class. He compared the accumulation of loan capital to the accumulation of steam in a cylinder. M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky was the first to formulate the law of the investment theory of cycles and anticipated Keynes’s idea of “savings-investment”. The phases of the industrial cycle are determined by the laws of investment.
N. D. Kondratiev worked on the problems of national economic planning, drew up the first plans, conducted market research, studied the objective characteristics and trends of a market economy. He is known to world science as the author of the theory of large cycles of economic conditions. N. D. Kondratyev studied data for European countries and the USA. The observation period was 140 years. During this time there were 2.5 completed large cycles. N.D. Kondratiev is the only one who managed to provide evidence of the existence of large cycles and they were named after him “Kondratiev’s Big Waves.”
A. V. Chayanov was the leader of the organizational and production school. The main subject of his research was peasant farming. He put forward a plan for the reconstruction of the agricultural sector: transfer of land to the ownership of the working peasantry; introduction of labor ownership of land; transfer of landowners' farms to the state; introduction of a single agricultural tax. A.V. Chayanov opposed the equal distribution of land to peasants. His major achievement is the theory of differential optima of agricultural enterprises. The optimum is achieved where, other things being equal, the cost of the resulting products will be the lowest, i.e. depending on natural and climatic conditions. Chayanov proposed socialization of the land - the destruction of land ownership. This means a revolution in land ownership and possible coexistence with the bourgeois system. He saw the sustainability of peasant farms in the fact that the peasant does not pursue profit and rent, but strives for economic independence.
V. K. Dmitriev compiled a system of linear equations, with the help of which he expressed simultaneous production costs and thereby, for the first time in world literature, gave a way to express total costs. He came to the conclusion that the level of socially necessary costs is determined under the worst conditions. He introduced the concept of “technological coefficients of product costs,” which formed the basis of V. Leontiev’s “input-output” method.
E. E. Slutsky adhered to the mathematical and economic direction. One of his important works is “Towards a Theory of a Balanced Consumer Budget,” in which he made a number of conclusions about the conditions for a stable consumer budget. Slutsky first raised the question of the need for a special science - praxeology, which would develop the principles of rational behavior of people in various conditions.
L. V. Kantorovich, a Nobel laureate in economics, showed that any economic problems of distribution can be considered as problems of maximizing a certain value under certain restrictions. He created linear programming methods that are convenient for many types of calculations in economics. He showed the existence of dual estimates in linear programming problems - it is impossible to simultaneously minimize costs and maximize results.
Section 4. Modern economic theory.
Topic 4.1. Institutionalism.
Institutionalism originated at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States. Its founder was T. Veblen. In his Theory of the Leisure Class, he argued against the idea that each individual strives for the greatest profit. Man is not a calculating machine, and in addition to benefits, there are also customs, traditions, and mores.
The period of the early 20th century was marked by the rapid growth of corporations. In this regard, T. Veblen added another group to the 3rd classes of society - technical specialists.
T. Veblen believes that the era of a market economy covers 2 stages:
On the first, property and real power are with entrepreneurs;
On the second, there is a split between business and industry. Business ends up in the hands of the leisure class, which lends its capital rather than invests it in production.
In his opinion, the modern economy does not function on the basis of supply and demand. Large firms are involved in speculative operations, increasing their purchasing power through credit, rather than expanding production. As a result, credit pyramids arise, a decline in business activity occurs, and many firms go bankrupt due to demands for immediate loan repayment.
D. Commons proposed a theory of transactions, according to which a transaction was a trinity: conflict, interrelation of interests, conflict resolution.
W. Mitchell was a researcher of economic cycles.
D. Galbraith devoted his attention to the industrial system, corporations, the role of the state, etc. He was the first to substantiate the thesis about replacing the power of the market with decisions of managers. He considers it necessary to limit the power of corporations, military concerns, and military department apparatuses. He developed reforms aimed at strengthening the role of the state; retraining of people left without work; reduction in military spending, etc.
R. Coase (50s of the 20th century) considered the problem of a “continuous market”, i.e. interaction between government regulation and market economy. He opposed attempts to find market failures and encourage government intervention in the economy.
Topic 4.2. Keynesianism.
Since the mid-30s, the development of economic theory was influenced by the theory of D. Keynes. In 1936, D. Keynes’s book “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” was published. Keynesianism gained worldwide fame for its rationale for government intervention in the economy. His theory developed after the global crisis “Great Depression” and was a “lifeline” for the economies of many countries. The focus is on 2 problems: demand and unemployment.
Theory of demand: before D. Keynes, it was believed that all produced goods would be sold, but D. Keynes believes that a person may not purchase goods, but save his money. D. Keynes identifies 3 ways to regulate demand:
Monetary policy - stimulating demand through lowering the interest rate and influencing the desire for liquidity,
Budget policy - organization of investments. The lack of private investment must be regulated by the state,
The policy of protectionism - closing borders to foreign competitors expands the conditions for domestic production.
The theory of employment and unemployment: with an increase in employment, national income increases, and therefore consumption increases. But consumption is growing more slowly than income, because... the propensity to save increases. That. effective demand decreases, and this affects production volumes. A decrease in production volumes entails an increase in unemployment. Keynes identified frictional, voluntary and involuntary unemployment caused by a decrease in demand.
Multiplier theory: investment in any industry entails an increase in employment, income and consumption not only in this industry, but also in related industries. In turn, changes in these industries generate growth in employment, income and consumption in second-tier industries. A multiplier effect occurs. The size of the multiplier depends on the share of consumption in income. The main problem should be considered the transformation of the saved portion into investment.
Topic 4.3. The current stage of development of economic doctrines.
Monetarism- appeared in the mid-80s and became a battlefield between the followers of D. Keynes and the monetarists, whose leader was M. Friedman. Monetarists argue that government intervention in the economy according to Keynesian recipes is harmful in the long run because the action of market regulators is blocked. The regulatory role of the state should be limited to the sphere of monetary circulation. The condition for economic stability is the constant, gradual pumping of the money supply into circulation.
Neoliberalism has a 3-century history and is in constant battle with the concept of government intervention in the economy. By the end of the 19th century, he lost his position, but by the 30-40s of the 20th century he again gained strength in the person of L. von Mises and F. von Hayek. L. von Mises considered the division of labor, private property and exchange to be the foundations of civilization. And the regulated economy turns into a field of arbitrariness of government officials. F. von Hayek believes that only the market is able to quickly respond to fluctuations in supply and demand. And centralized planning will always be late. In some studies their direction is called neoliberalism. But most scientists call neoliberalism another branch of economic liberalism, the leader of which was V. Eucken, and one of the representatives was L. Erhard. The function of the state, in their opinion, is that of a judge to ensure that the rules are followed.
Supply theory appeared at the turn of the 70-80s. A major role in the development of this theory belongs to the American Enterprise Institute. Fluctuations in economic growth rates, unemployment and inflation, in their opinion, were provoked by increased government spending. In practice, this theory did not justify itself.
Rational Expectations Theory it is a product of the latest evolution of neoclassicism. This school was formed in the USA. Rational expectations are formed on the basis of all available information about the current state and prospects for economic development. However, this theory turned out to be divorced from real processes.
Literature:
1. « History of economic doctrines". Textbook. Ministry of Education and Science Shmarlovskaya G.A., Tur A.N., Lebedko E.E. and others. LLC “New Knowledge” 2000.
2. "History of the World Economy." Lecture notes. Bor M.Z. Business and service 2002.
3. "History of economic doctrines." Course of lectures. Levita R.Ya. Catallaxy with the participation of KnoRus JSC, 2003.
4. "Ancient accounting: what it was like." Malkova T.N. Finance and Statistics, 1995.
5. “History of economics and economic doctrines.” Educational and methodological manual of the Ministry of Education and Science. Surin A.I. Finance and Statistics, 2001.
6. “History of economic doctrines” M., 2003. R.Ya. Levita.
7. “History of Economic Doctrines” M.: Humanitarian Publishing House. center, 1997, N.E. Titova.
8. “History of Economic Doctrines” M.: Publishing House “Center”, 1997, V.N. Kostyuk.
9. E. F. Borisov “Anthology on Economic Theory” M., “Lawyer” 1997
10. “History of Economic Thought in Russia”, ed. A.N. Markova, M.: “Law and Law.” Ed. association "UNITY", 1996
The history of economic science is quite long and rich. People have always been interested in processes that directly or indirectly affected their prosperity.
The subject of the history of economic doctrines is the stages of economic formation, its development and transformation over a long period of time. She also examines in detail the main directions of economic thought that prevailed in a given period.
Unfortunately, the entire history of economic doctrines cannot fit within the framework of this article. It seems possible only to indicate the key stages in the development of schools and trends from ancient times to the end of the 19th century.
The teachings begin with the attempts of Aristotle and Plato to somehow systematize the information they knew in this area. Aristotle made a particularly valuable contribution. He was the first to call economics a science and studied and developed money and value.
We owe the origin of the term “economics” to Xenophon, a historian and writer from Ancient Greece. The name consists of two words, which together mean “housekeeping law.”
The history of economic teachings connects the formation of the economy as one whole on the scale of the state with the division of exchange and labor in society. This indicates the emergence of a need for knowledge about the economy of the country as a whole. At the beginning of the 17th century, A. Montchretien, with the publication of a treatise on, proved that the main purpose of production is trade, and gave the final name to the young science. This economist, as well as Thomas Maine and I.T. Pososhkov, are representatives of mercantilism, the main direction of economic thought of that time. They saw the accumulation of precious metals as the basis for a nation's prosperity.
In those same years, there was an opposite point of view expressed by the followers of the Physiocratic school. They believed that only the labor of rural workers on the land could bring income that significantly exceeded costs. All other activities only process products without producing anything new.
And, of course, the history of economic doctrines cannot be imagined without such classics of science as Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo. They had differences on many issues, but there were also a number of prerequisites that united them. Thus, they all advocated that the state should not interfere in economic processes and should allow individuals to compete freely. The desire of a person (as a primarily economic subject) to increase his wealth certainly entails an increase in the wealth of society as a whole. Adam Smith called the self-adjusting mechanism of the economy the “invisible hand.” It thus guides the actions of product producers and consumers so that economic equilibrium is maintained. In such a system, unemployment cannot exist for long, a surplus of goods can be produced, or a shortage can be experienced. The followers of Adam Smith and he himself believed that not only agriculture creates the wealth of the nation, but also the labor of other classes.
Karl Marx created the doctrine that the market economy is exploitative in nature. He was based on the cost of labor and believed that the wealth of the people was the labor of mercenaries. Without paying ordinary workers, capitalists make huge profits, thereby polarizing society into two classes: the rich and the poor. And within such a capitalist system, a revolution of the proletariat is necessarily brewing. In practice, the theory of the German economist was not confirmed.
At the end of the 19th century he became the founder of the neoclassical movement. He proved that the welfare of producers and consumers will reach its maximum only when economic entities are able to compete freely.
Abstract on the history of economic doctrines
Why study the history of economic science?
In order to better understand the logic and structure of modern economic thinking (after all, modern economic theory consists of several theories that reflect different eras and cultural traditions, different types of scientific thinking).
Knowledge of the history of economic science allows us to compare the judgments of contemporaries with those that have already taken place, and give them our own adequate assessment.
The history of economic science is part of the treasury of world culture; knowledge of it contributes to a more complete and real perception of reality.
The history of economic science can be presented on the basis of two approaches:
Relativistic the approach considers the economic theories of the past from the point of view of their historical conditionality;
Absolutist considers the development of theory as a continuous progress from erroneous judgments to truth, in the limit - to absolute truth.
Economic science has come a long way from economic thought (in the ancient world) to economic teachings (in the ancient period and the Middle Ages) and further to economic theory.
The emergence of economic thought
The oldest documents recording economic relations can be considered laws.
Ancient Babylon .
Laws of King Hammurabi (1792 - 1750 BC) - slave relations, money circulation, debt obligations, rent, wages of mercenaries.
Ancient India .
" Laws of Manu" (VI century BC) - rights and property relations, in later treatises - a description of the state and economic structure, rules of purchase and sale, hiring of workers, pricing.
Ancient China .
Works of Confucius (551-479 BC) - views on physical and mental labor, slave relations; treatise "Guanzi" (IV-III centuries BC) - on trade, taxes, agriculture and crafts, on finance;
the teaching of Xun Tzu (313-238 BC) is about taxation, against “exorbitant fees at outposts and markets that slow down exchange.”
Economic teachings of the world of antiquity
Ancient Greece .
Xenophon (430-355 BC) - “On Income”, “Economics” - gave the start to scientific economics. He divided the economy into sectors (agriculture, handicrafts, trade), and for the first time spoke about the feasibility of the division of labor.
Plato (427-347 BC) developed ideas about the division of labor, the specialization of labor and the characteristics of different types of activities.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) - “Politics”, “Ethics” - explores economics. processes to discover patterns. The main direction of economics. development should be the naturalization of economic life (natural economy as an ideal is a closed economic system, the labor of slaves is used, wealth is the totality of what is produced in this economy, the way to achieve wealth is the seizure of new territories and slaves with the subsequent organization of their labor). The development of exchange and trade contradicts the ideal type of development, although they are an integral part of life. Aristotle deeply analyzed monetary processes and phenomena. It was thanks to the development of this problem, which Aristotle himself considered a dead-end direction of economic development, that his name entered the history of economics. science as one of its founders and the first economist.
Ancient Rome .
Attention was paid to the problems of farming, organizing the labor of slaves, and land ownership:
Varro (116-27 BC) - “On Agriculture”;
Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) - “On Agriculture”;
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC);
Pliny the Elder (123-79 BC) - “Natural History”;
Columella (1st century BC) - “On Agriculture” - agricultural encyclopedia of antiquity.
Economic thought in the 1st millennium AD. Economics and religion
The transition from the slave system to the feudal one, from pagan religion to monotheism, from the justification of slavery to its condemnation. There are no revolutionary changes happening. The strongest impact on economics. the church has its views. The commandments are interpreted as rules of economic behavior.
The Bible testifies that economic truths were known to people in ancient times. The books of the Old Testament contain advice, wishes, and parting words of an economic nature. The book of Nehemiah directly mentions taxes and collateral. You can also find instructions from the arsenal of forms and methods of economic management.
The Gospel (New Testament) played a huge role in the formation of a code of economic morality, opposition to the principles of acquisitiveness, naked profit, although it does not contain systematized views on the economy itself. The books of the New Testament contain ideas close to socialist and even communist.
In Islam, too, one can find confirmation of how religious beliefs influenced the economy. principles. Thus, Muhammad preached the spirit of moderation, non-worship of wealth, and mercy; established rules for the inheritance of property and the distribution of funds received in the form of zakat (this is a unique form of taxation - compulsory alms).
Mercantilism
The term (from Italian mercante - merchant, merchant) was introduced by the English. economist Adam Smith. This is an economical system. looks, cat was widespread in Europe in the second millennium AD. Representatives of mercantilism - English. William Stafford and Thomas Mann, fr. Antoine Montchretien, Scot. John Law, Italian. Gaspar Scaruffi and Antonio Gevonesi - considered money (at that time these were precious metals) as the main component of material well-being. The source of wealth is foreign trade. The concept of an active trade balance was introduced - the excess of exports over imports. In addition, mercantilism for the first time determined the managerial functions of the state; economic policy leading to the enrichment of the nation is protectionism(support for domestic merchants in foreign markets, restrictions for foreigners in the domestic market).
Early mercantilism arose before the Age of Discovery, and its central idea was that of “money balance”. Economical Government policy during this period was of a clearly fiscal nature. Successful tax collection could only be ensured by creating a system in which private individuals were prohibited from exporting precious metals outside the state. Foreign merchants were obliged to spend all the proceeds received on the purchase of local goods, and the issue of money was declared a state monopoly. Result: depreciation of money, rising prices for goods, weakening of the economic position of the nobility.
Late mercantilism adhered to the idea of a trade balance. It was believed that the state became richer, the greater the difference between the cost of exported and imported goods. Therefore, the export of finished products was encouraged and the export of raw materials and the import of luxury goods was limited, and the development of intermediary trade was stimulated, for which the export of money abroad was allowed. High import duties were established, export bonuses were paid, and privileges were granted to trading companies.
Result: confrontation between countries, mutual restrictions on trade, decline in industries focused on domestic markets.
Already in the 18th century. Logically completed mercantilism became a brake on economic development and came into conflict with the real needs of economic systems in Europe. Many concepts and principles of this doctrine are widely used in modern theory and practice.
Physiocrats
The term (power of nature) was introduced by Adam Smith. The founder of the doctrine was François Quesnay (1694-1774), the most prominent representatives were Victor de Mirabeau (1715-1789), Dupont de Neymour (1739-1817), Jacques Turgot (1727-1781). The physiocrats considered wealth not money, but “the products of the earth”; The source of society's wealth is agricultural production, not trade and industry. The increase in wealth comes from the “net product” (the difference between agricultural output and the output used to produce it during the year). The idea of government non-interference in the natural course of economic life.
Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) - "Economic table" (1758) - table of the circulation of beneficial resources. Quesnay divides society into three main classes - farmers, landowners and the “sterile class” (not employed in agriculture). The process of distribution and redistribution of the pure product goes through the following stages:
farmers rent land from owners for money and grow crops;
owners buy products from farmers and industries. products from artisans;
farmers buy industrial products. goods from industrialists;
industrialists buy agricultural goods from farmers - > money to rent land.
Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) attempted to practically implement the physiocratic concept. He carried out a number of reforms aimed at reducing the role of the state in the economic life of France. Contributions in kind were replaced by a cash tax, state expenditures were reduced, guild corporations and guilds were abolished, and taxation of the noble class was introduced (previously they did not pay). Turgot developed Quesnay's teachings in his work "Reflections on the Creation and Distribution of Wealth" (1776). According to Turgot, a pure product can be produced not only in agriculture, but also in industry; The class structure of society is more complex - there is differentiation within each class. In addition, he laid the scientific basis for analyzing the salaries of hired workers; formulated the “law of decrease in land product”, cat. In modern economic theory is interpreted in the form of the law of diminishing returns.
Although the practice of the physiocrats was unsuccessful, the theoretical contribution of this school cannot be overestimated.
Classical school
The direction originated in the 17th century. and flourished in the XVIII - early. XIX centuries The classics placed labor as a creative force and value as the embodiment of value at the center of their research, thereby laying the foundation for the labor theory of value. They also developed an idea of surplus value, profit, taxes, and land rent. The source of wealth is the sphere of production.
William Petty (1623-1687) is the first representative and progenitor of the classical school; he is responsible for scientific developments in the field of taxation and customs duties.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) - Father of Economics - Inquiries into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) - The wealth of a nation is embodied in the products it consumes. The relationship between the quantity of products consumed and the population depends on labor productivity (which in turn is determined by the division of labor and the level of capital accumulation) and the proportion of division of society into productive and unproductive classes. The greater this ratio, the higher the level of material well-being. THAT. the growth of wealth depends on the level of capital accumulation and the way it is used. Smith was a supporter of the mechanism of market self-regulation and the policy of non-intervention by the state. The main attention was paid to the study of patterns and conditions for growth in production volume.
David Ricardo (1772-1823) - “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817) - made a significant contribution to the development and clarification of various specific problems of economic theory. He proposed the theory of “comparative costs” (comparative advantages), which became the theoretical basis for the policy of free trade (free trade). The bottom line: in the absence of restrictions on foreign trade, the country's economy should specialize in the production of lower-cost goods - this will lead to efficient use of resources and ensure higher production volumes.
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) - “An Essay on the Law of Population” (1798) - touching on demographic problems, tried to identify patterns of population change. By endowing people with the ability for limitless reproduction, nature, through economic processes, imposes restrictions on the human race that regulate population growth.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) - “Principles of Political Economy” (1848) - in the 19th century. encyclopedic textbook on economic theory. Mill systematized the work of his predecessors, taking into account the new level of knowledge, and also laid the foundations for a number of fundamental concepts and provisions, and expressed many valuable ideas.
In the second half of the 19th century. In economic theory, two directions have emerged - the direction of economic analysis, which later received the general name Marxism, and the so-called marginal theory, which then grew into the largest neoclassical school.
Utopian socialism and communism
Socialist and communist ideas have been maturing in society since the 16th century. But the most fertile ground for them developed towards the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, when the unseemly features of the existing capitalist system were fully revealed: the accumulation of capital in the hands of a few, the deepening of private property, the polarization of wealth, the plight of the proletarians.
Many scientists advocated utopian socio-political and economic systems based on the principles of collectivism, justice, equality, and fraternity.
Utopianism originated in the 15th century. Thomas More wrote "Utopia", containing a description of the ideal system. Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) imagined a “City of the Sun” that contained an ideal community. Gabriel Bonneau de Mably (1709-1785) spoke about social justice, considering large-scale agriculture to be the main economic evil. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) - defended the right of the people to the violent elimination of injustice in his essay “Discourses on the beginning and foundations of inequality...”. The Swiss Jean Charles Leonard Simond de Sismondi (1773-1842) saw in political economy the science of improving the social mechanism for the sake of people's happiness; introduced a new understanding of the term “proletariat” as a poor, oppressed layer of workers.
Utopian socialism. Predicting the death of the capitalist system, socialists insisted on the need to change the social system in the name of creating a new social formation (NOF). Main ideas: high security of people in a team, equality, brotherhood, centralized leadership, planning, world balance. Socialists proposed eliminating the market system, replacing it with total state planning.
Claude Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825) - NOF - industrialism, the bourgeoisie and the proletarians form a single class; compulsory labor, unity of science and production, scientific economic planning, distribution of the social product.
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) - NOF - harmony, saw the “phalanx” as the primary cell of the future society. industrial and agricultural production are combined; mental and physical labor are not opposed.
Robert Owen (1771-1858) - NOF - communism, proposed the creation of self-governing "villages of community and cooperation", devoid of classes, exploitation, private property, etc. Building a system peacefully, through the spread of ideas of equality and social justice.
Communism (scientific socialism).
Karl Marx (1818-1883) - developed his own system of views on theoretical economics (political economy). Relying mainly on the classical school, he nevertheless significantly changed many of its provisions. It hardly has competitors among economic theorists. He developed a number of special theoretical issues characteristic of the economy of that period - the theory of the business cycle, income, wages, simple and expanded production, land rent.
His theory is most fully expounded in Capital (1867,1885,1894). Labor costs that determine the value are not individual, but socially necessary, i.e. equal to the number of working hours, cat. required on average for the production of goods at a given level of production development. THAT. only hired labor (the proletariat) produces value. Excess value (surplus value) is appropriated by the owner of capital - an entrepreneur, a capitalist - this is how the process of gradual accumulation of capital takes place, which is actually the result of the appropriation of the fruits of someone else's labor. When making decisions, the capitalist is guided by maximizing the amount of surplus value. The one who extracts the maximum possible surplus value by exploiting hired labor survives in the business world, while the rest lose their competitive positions. THAT. both the proletariat and the capitalists are hostages of the system. The process of functioning of the capitalist economy leads to the collapse of the entire system.
There will only be a way social revolution on a global scale eliminate the system of private property as the main obstacle to development, move to public regulation of economic life based on the principles of equality of all people and justice.
Marx's ideas were supplemented and somewhat revised by Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) and V.I. Lenin (1870-1924). This theory was called communism, or Marxism-Leninism. Marx and Engels wrote the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (1948) - the abolition of private ownership of land and means of production, the introduction of collective ownership, the centralization of money, capital, transport in the hands of society, the same duty of labor for everyone, economic planning.
The successor of Lenin's ideas I.V. Stalin, apparently, finally broke with the idea of world revolution and reformulated the problem into the gradual creation of a communist society on the scale of a separate state, relying on its own forces.
In the works of the founders of Marxism, there is no more or less detailed study of the issue of specific mechanisms for the economic functioning of a socialist or communist economic system.
Marginalism
The school refers to “pure theory”. Representatives of marginalism (from the French marginal - limit) are the Austrians K. Menger, E. Boehm-Bawerk, the Englishman W. Jevons, the Americans. J.B. Clark, Swiss V. Pareto.
The value of a product is not established in production, but only in the process of exchange, and depends on the subjective psychological characteristics of the buyer’s perception of the value of the product (if I don’t need it, I’m not ready to pay a high price). The usefulness of a product depends on the system of needs. The system of needs is ranked according to the criterion of need. The law of diminishing marginal utility (each subsequent good of a given type has less and less utility for the consumer) has become the fundamental principle of marginalism. The price depends on marginal utility (MU) and should fall as the supply of the good increases.
Two options for margin analysis - cardinalism(PP can be measured in utils) and ordinalism(it is enough to measure only the relative values of the PP of different goods).
In theoretical terms, but not in practical terms, this principle is quite productive. For the first time, an attempt was made to present the basic economic ideas using mathematical apparatus and to give science a strictly demonstrative form. Marginalism made a great contribution to the development of science, stimulating interest in the analysis of consumer psychology, developing and applying a number of mathematical constructs.
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, or neoclassical synthesis, united the positions of classicists and marginalists.
Alfred Marshall (1942-1924) - “Principles of Political Economy” (1890) - founder of the movement. I used a functional approach (all economic phenomena are not related to each other in a cause-and-effect relationship - this is the principle of causality, but in a functional relationship). The problem is not how the price is determined, but how it changes and what functions it performs. Problem eq. science to study the actually operating mechanism of the market economy and understand the principles of its functioning. The essence of the market mechanism, according to Marshall: the transaction price is the result of an agreement between the seller and the buyer. The seller's price in its minimum value is the cost of the goods; The buyer's price at its maximum value is equal to the marginal utility of the product. As a result of bargaining, a certain equilibrium price is established, which becomes the price of the product. THAT. The seller's price is formed according to classical laws, and the buyer's price is formed according to the marginal canon. What is new is that price is the result of a quantitative relationship between the quantities of supply and demand in a given market. The transaction price and the amount of demand are inversely related: the higher the price, the lower the demand; with the amount of supply - in direct proportion: the higher the price, the higher the supply. When supply and demand are equal, the price becomes the equilibrium market price.
The market or price mechanism is capable of adjusting the price level in markets without outside intervention. Disruption of the market mechanism can occur due to government intervention, as well as during monopolistic tendencies in the market, when the seller sets market prices independently of the buyer.
Joan Robinson, E. Chamberlin - studied the pricing mechanism in the market depending on the degree of its monopolization; proposed the theory of imperfect competition.
Closely related to neoclassicism is the so-called. NEOLIBERALISM. The basic principle was laid down by A. Smith: minimizing government influence on the economy, providing producers, entrepreneurs, and traders with the maximum possible freedom of action.
Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) - an ardent supporter of economic liberalization and free market relations; Nobel laureate 1974 He devoted his works to proving the superiority of the market system in a mixed and, especially, a centralized “command” economy. Attached great importance to the mechanism of market self-regulation through free market prices. "The Road to Serfdom" (1944) - any refusal of economics. freedom of market pricing will inexorably lead to dictatorship and economics. slavery.
Ludwig von Erhard - developed methods for the practical application of the ideas of neoliberalism to economic systems - "Welfare for All" (1956) - developed the concept of a market economy and built his own model of a consistent transition to such an economy, based on the idea of adaptation to the current situation.
Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) - "The Theory of Economic Development" (1912) - in modern economics, the main driving force is free enterprise. The scientist became a herald of innovation in the economy, considering the decisive factor in its dynamics to be renewal (the emergence of new tools of production, technological processes, materials, raw materials, the development of new markets). He believed that interest in business, the desire for success, the will to win, and the joy of creativity play a huge role.
Keynesianism
In the main industrialized countries of the world there was an absolute drop in production, rising unemployment, massive bankruptcies of firms and general discontent. Communist and national socialist ideas began to spread throughout the world, predicting the collapse of the capitalist system. The neoclassical doctrine did not offer recipes for improving the situation, rejecting the very formulation of the question of a long-term crisis in a market-type economy and advising not to interfere in this process.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) - “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” (1936) - substantiated the need and identified specific directions for the regulatory impact on the economy on the part of the state. He presented his theory in extremely heavy language, without the slightest attempt to make his text understandable to the public. According to Keynes, the laws of macro and microeconomics do not coincide (the production and supply of a single product can increase constantly while the production capabilities of the economy as a whole are limited by labor resources). For the first time I noticed that the average level of income of citizens in developed countries is much higher than the minimum required level, and with income growth there is a tendency towards saving rather than consumption. THAT. demand consists only of consumer expenditures of the population; its total value falls the faster the faster incomes grow. If savings depend on income, then investments ultimately depend on the price of money and bank interest rates on loans. If the volume of investment exceeds the volume of savings, then inflation occurs, otherwise unemployment occurs. State economic policy should be aimed at maintaining sustainable effective demand. Keynes described acceleration effect- public investment revitalizes business activity through increased private investment in related projects; multiplier effect growth in supply and demand (one leads to the other); took a different look at the role of the factor of frugality in the process of eq. development.
The main task of the state is to maintain macroeconomic balance through influencing aggregate demand. Keynesianism became the theoretical basis for the system of state countercyclical regulation. The proposed concept is effective in practical terms, but does not always allow one to cope with inflation and unemployment.
Economic theories of the post-war period
After the Second World War, Keynesianism took a dominant position in economic theory. But already in the 50-60s. basic postulates were refuted or questioned by a number of new schools and movements.
>> MONETARISM is a theory based on the idea of the decisive influence of the money supply on prices, inflation and the course of economic processes. Therefore, monetarists reduce economic management to state control over the money supply and the issue of money.
Milton Friedman - Nobel laureate 1976 - "Monetary history of the United States 1867-1960." (together with A. Schwartz) - in long-term periods, major changes in the economy are associated with the money supply and its movement. All the largest eco. shocks are explained by the consequences of monetary policy, and not by the instability of the market economy. The demand for money is the most important motivator of behavior. Rejection of social programs as an ineffective investment. The huge role of freedom; The state should interfere as little and carefully as possible in market relations (since the results of intervention are unpredictable in the long term).
THE THEORY OF SUPPLY ECONOMICS (A. Laffer, J. Gilder) - it is necessary to stimulate the activation of product supply, and not subject aggregate demand to government regulation. Deregulation (flexibilization) will lead to the fact that markets will restore their efficiency and respond by increasing production volumes. THAT. it is necessary to recreate the classical mechanism of capital accumulation and revive freedom of private enterprise. Specific measures are anti-inflationary: reducing tax rates on personal income and corporate profits, reducing the state budget deficit by reducing government spending, a consistent policy of privatization of state property. Based on this theory, they entered world history as reformers of the conservative type: M. Thatcher, R. Reagan, K. Tanaka.
THE THEORY OF RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS (J. Muth, T. Lucas -N. l. 1996, L. Repping) - began to develop only in the 70s. Consumers make decisions about current and future consumption based on forecasts of the future price level for consumer goods. Consumers strive to maximize utility and have learned to adapt to changes in the economy (they are able to predict them), and with their rational behavior they nullify the effectiveness of government policy in the economy. areas. Therefore, the government must create stable, predictable rules for market consumption, abandoning the discrete stabilization policy of the Keynesian type.
INSTITUTIONALISM - social institutions (state, trade unions, large corporations) have a decisive influence on the economy. The direction is based on the works of Thornston Veblen.
John Kenneth Galbraith - the processes of economic organization and management come to the fore. The decisive role in management belongs to the technostructure - the layer of managers, cat. Guided by supra-class interests. He sees no obstacles to the merger and convergence of the capitalist and socialist systems. This idea is supported by prominent economists Walt Rostow (USA) and Jan Tinbergen (Nobel laureate, Netherlands).
NEW INSTITUTIONALISM - developed in the last quarter of the 20th century, based on neoclassical theory; presented by the works of Nobel Prize laureates R. Coase, D. North, D. Buchanan.
Economic thought in Russia
Russian scientists have contributed to the development of certain issues in economic science.
XVIIcentury - the formation of an all-Russian market, the emergence of manufactories.
A. Ordin-Nashchokin (1605-1680) - advocated for the strengthening of a centralized state, developed a program for the implementation of economic activity. Russian politics, wrote the “New Trade Charter”, aimed at protecting Russian traders.
I.T. Pososhkov (1652-1726) - “The Book of Scarcity and Wealth” (1724). How to increase wealth? - to attract the entire working population, to work “at a profit”, profitably, to follow the principle of the strictest economy. The primary task of the state is to take care of the welfare of the people. He called for exporting from Russia not raw materials, but manufactured goods; do not import products, cat. can be produced independently; maintain a balance of import and export. He advocated the industrial development of Russia. Based on the legality of serfdom, he recommended limiting peasant duties and assigning land plots to peasants. He proposed replacing the poll tax with a land tax, and advocated the introduction of tithes in favor of the church.
XVIII - XIX VV.
V.N. Tatishchev (1686-1750) - “Imagination of merchants and crafts” - supported the development of industry, trade, merchants in Russia, advocated a policy of protectionism.
M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765)
N.S. Mordvinov (1754-1845), M.M. Speransky (1772-1839) - representatives of the Russian classical school; economic program of the advanced part of the Russian nobility.
A.N. Radishchev (1749-1802) - the stimulating role of trade for industry. development of Russia; about the types of prices and their relationship with utility; about the types of contracts in trade transactions; about the stimulating and disincentive role of taxation; about the content of sale, purchase, barter, service, assignment, loan, lottery, redemption, bargaining; about loans, interest and their rate.
A.A. Chuprov (1874-1926) - founder of Russian statistics; author of works on problems of political economy, economic statistics, agriculture, money circulation and prices.
Marxist ideas of scientific socialism were analyzed and discussed
M.A. Bakunin (1814-1876), G.V. Plekhanov (1856-1918), P.B. Struve (1870-1944), V.I. Lenin (1870-1924).
XXcentury.
M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky (1865-1919) was the first to proclaim the need to combine the labor theory of value with the theory of marginal utility. He made the greatest contribution to the theory of markets and crises, analysis of the development of capitalism and the formation of socialism, and the development of the social foundations of cooperation.
V.A. Bazarov (1874-1939), E.A. Preobrazhensky (1886-1937) - refers to the learned economists and practitioners who tried to build the theory of a socialist planned economy, based on the possibility of interaction between a planned and market economy.
A.V. Chayanov (1888-1937) - representative of the organizational and production direction in Russian economics. thoughts, theorist of family and peasant farming. More than 200 scientific papers. His scientific ideas about the development of peasant farming in Russia and about cooperation diverged from Stalin’s guidelines for forced collectivization of agriculture.
N.D. Kondratiev (1892-1938) - is known in the world economy as one of the creators of the theory of large cycles and long waves. Conducted major research in the field of economic dynamics, market conditions, and planning. In 1927 came out with sharp criticism of the draft five-year plan, defending the idea that long-term plans should contain not specific quantitative indicators, but general directions of development.
V.S. Nemchinov (1894-1964) - known for his work in the field of statistics and mathematical modeling of economic processes. "Statistics as a Science" (1952). A significant part of his research is devoted to the problem of the development of productive forces and the analysis of economic phenomena using mathematical methods.
L.V. Kantorovich (1912-1986) - winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Economics (together with the American T.C. Koopmans), creator of linear programming. Laid the foundations of the mathematical theory of optimal planning and use of resources. His work is used in macroeconomic research.
A.I. Anchishkin (1933-1987) - known for his work in macroeconomic forecasting.
Economic science clearly lags behind the practical demands of our time, but, nevertheless, moves forward, enriching humanity with new theoretical and applied knowledge in economics. The Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded annually since 1961. New currents of economic thought are developing, designed to more fully and deeply explain observed and predict future economic events.