The term political economy

The market mechanism is a complex and very dynamic structure that depends on a huge number of factors: the level of inflation, the supply-demand ratio, the activity of its participants, state regulation and, of course, the state of the economy as a whole. At the same time, the last element plays one of the most important roles in the healthy development of the entire society.

The formation of a modern economy was influenced by a large number of schools and exercises. Institutional, neoclassical, Marxist, Keynesian, mercantilistic and other directions have made a huge contribution to what is now called the economy and market relations. The theories and reflections of ancient philosophers spodvigli medieval thinkers to seek answers to all questions relating to the relationship between the buyer, the seller and the state.

Thus, Montchretien, the founder of the school of mercantilism, first introduced the concept of political economy. Part of this term appeared during Xenophon's lifetime. It was the ancient Greek writer and politician who introduced the word "economy", which meant "laws of housekeeping". Mercantilists began to consider this concept in a more global sense - in relation not only to the family, but also to the state. Therefore, in his treatise Montchretien introduced the term "political economy". If translated word for word, it means "public or state management of the economy."

Gradually, this expression began to grow more and more meaning and expand the boundaries of its significance. And, as a consequence, political economy has grown into a separate science. Such scientists and thinkers of the classical school as Smith, Ricardo, Quesnay, Boisguilberg, Turgot, Petit and others began to analyze not only the sphere of circulation, but also the sphere of production itself. This is what allowed us to consider the internal patterns of the functioning of a complex market mechanism and gave grounds for the formation of such a new science as political economy.

Thanks to the representatives of the classical school, a labor theory of value was initiated.

This can be seen most clearly in the writings of David Ricardo, who first took it as the basis for analyzing the differences between wages and profits, as well as between profit and rent. At the same time, the theory of the classical school was aimed at expressing the interests of the bourgeois strata of the population. It was precisely when the formation of capitalism and the capitalist modes of production took place that the completely undeveloped class struggle of the proletariat was gaining its power. Then representatives of this school began to furiously support the dismemberment of feudal atavism.

It was British classical political economy that formed the basis of one of the Marxist teachings. However, not only the socialist school is based on the teachings of Ricardo and Quesnay - in the 30s of the 19th century in Britain and France, the science that has been modified and contradicted by the theory of classics develops. She renounces the already familiar theory of labor value and names quite different sources of it - land, labor and capital. Scientists such as Say, Malthus and Bastia do not consider the laws of the development of production, but rely solely on economic phenomena. This theory was called "vulgar political economy".