The development of economic thought

economic thought

 Economic thought is a group of studies that follow the human steps used in the search for and discovery of economic laws.  By studying the research and opinions of scholars on the material phenomena of economics, from the primitive era through the Greek and Roman eras to both the European era and the modern era;  Where all these eras formed the foundations and studies that led to the establishment and emergence of economics.

 The development of economic thought

 It is not possible to understand and realize the science of economics and its nature without knowing its history, just as the history of economic thought was not a widespread intellectual field among many people.  That economic thought has a life of its own, but the general reality indicates that all ideas of economics are linked with their spatial and temporal production, and they cannot be considered as having a life of their own and separate from reality;  That is, about the ordinary life associated with the world that these ideas are interested in explaining, and just as the world is witnessing a development, so too does economic thought develop so that it can maintain its importance, so its development depended on being affected by the ideas resulting from economic schools;  Therefore, this development can be summarized as follows: 

 primitive economic thought

 Primitive economic thought was born in conjunction with the emergence of the first ancient civilizations, such as the Indian, Greek, Roman and Chinese, until reaching the Arab civilization, and the emergence of many philosophers and thinkers belonging to these civilizations, such as Aristotle in the Greek civilization, and Ibn Khaldun.  The economics that appeared in the time period between the fourteenth century and the seventeenth century AD were the ones who contributed to the establishment of the rules of economics, and the theories of the Arab scholar and thinker Ibn Khaldun constituted a type of economic leadership;  Where many of his theories on economics were not well known in Europe, and then both the natural and commercial schools were keen to add several economic concepts and terms;  Which led to the emergence of the national economy and capitalism in Europe.

 classical economic thought

 The publication of the economic scientist, thinker and philosopher Adam Smith of his book “The Wealth of Nations” contributed to the promotion of economics as one of the sciences;  Where this book was keen to identify the productive factors represented in capital, labor, and land, and pointed out that these main factors are the basis of the wealth of nations, as Smith sees that the ideal economic system is known as the self-regulating market system;  Because it is keen to provide all the needs of individuals automatically, and describe the market as contributing to encouraging individuals to work to achieve their needs;  Which leads to the best benefit to society.

 Marxist economic thought

 The emergence of the stage of Marxist economic thought dates back to the ideas of the philosopher and thinker Marx;  Where he was concerned with the absence of any individual ownership of property and productive elements;  Through the endeavor of the working class to revolt against the class of owners and those who control the factors of production, and the state that will be established based on the ideas of Marx and the workers’ revolution was called the dictatorial state of the proletariat;  Its economy and society are concerned with the need to achieve justice and equality between individuals in economic resources, and this encouraged the establishment of communist thought. 

 With the passage of time, Marxist economic thought and Marxism in general witnessed a noticeable decline in all its aspects.  Where Marxist thought became forgotten as a result of ignorance in it and the coups that occurred in the early sixties of the twentieth century AD, Marxism witnessed a coup, one of the most important results of which was the fall of the Soviet Union. 

 Keynesian economic thought

 The foundation of Keynesian economic thought was based on the theory of the thinker and economist John Keynes;  Where he was interested in studying both the public and private sectors of the economy, which are economically known as the mixed economy. Keynes' economic ideas differed from the ideas of a free market economy;  Where he encouraged the intervention of states in a range of economic fields, and he sees through his theory that all trends related to the macro economy contribute to determining the individual behavior within the micro-economy, and this is consistent with the views of classical economic thinkers about the impact of demand on goods, and its distinction as an important role in cases of economic recession.  It is believed that governments depend on aggregate demand to fight depression and unemployment.

 A belief spread during the stage of the emergence of the Great Depression that the economy was not inclined to natural full employment according to the principle of the classical economists known as the invisible hand, and the modern theory of employment did not agree with the classical theory.  to achieve a balance in its output in conjunction with the existence of inflation and unemployment;  Therefore, according to Keynesian economic thought, total employment is not permanent. 

 The importance of studying economic thought

 The importance of studying economic thought and its history is related to the quality and nature of the opinions of economic thinkers.  This led to their division into several groups. A group of them sees no need to pay attention to the study of economic thought and its history;  Because it contains many errors, while another group believes that economics can only be understood by studying its history;  Therefore, the importance of studying economic thought can be summarized as follows: 

 Recognize the nature of the association of economic ideas with antiquity.

 Understand the foundations of the origins and origins of economics.

 Knowing the role of economic thought in building and preparing the political and economic systems of countries.

 The ability to compare various economic ideas;  Which contributes to reaching balanced judgments.