The origin of this school in the 17th century is due to the fact that the first official economic doctrine - mercantilism - was outdated and could no longer solve the problems facing the economy of that time. The classical ancestor of which is universally recognized went through certain stages in its formation, which I would like to talk about in more detail.

The first stage was the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, when W. Petty in England and Pierre Boisguillebert in France began to develop new provisions for that time regarding economic issues, which soon transformed into such thought as the classical school of political economy.

It should be noted that in the classical school in the mid-18th century, such an interesting direction as physiocracy developed, the founder of which is considered to be Francois Quesnay. Representatives of this movement placed agriculture at the forefront, believing that only it truly creates a product. And, for example, the same blacksmiths simply transform existing materials, so their activity is not so significant.

The second stage is completely associated with the outstanding economist Adam Smith, whose work “The Wealth of Nations” (1776) still arouses the greatest interest of science. His famous “invisible hand of the market” was recognized as an outstanding idea of ​​the time and for a long period was recognized as the only correct one. The bottom line is that there are certain objective laws that ensure that any search for the benefit of an individual will still lead to the benefit of the entire society. In turn, the market is a mechanism that balances the interests of sellers and buyers.

The third stage (almost the entire first half of the 19th century) was marked by the transition, primarily in England, to automated production, which contributed to the industrial revolution. Classical political economy at that stage was developed by D. Ricardo, T. Malthus, J.B. Say.

At the final, fourth stage, which occupied the entire second half of the 19th century, Karl Marx, first of all, carried out a generalization of the best works presented for the entire time that the classical school of political economy existed.

It should be said that this school is often called a little differently - bourgeois political economy. The fact is that it was from this that classical political economy developed, since representatives focused on protecting the interests of the bourgeoisie. The classics contrasted their proposals regarding state non-interference in the economy with the ideas of the mercantilists, who advocated the widespread use of

Classical political economy is a truly fundamental study of many economic processes based not just on reasoning and assumptions, but on theoretical research. Thus, the classics contrasted with mercantilist empiricism.

Classical political economy is characterized by the following factors:

1. It is based on labor. The classics said that any product is evaluated in terms of how much effort was spent on its production.
2. The state should interfere minimally in the economy.
3. The gaze of the classics is focused on the sphere of production, while the sphere of circulation fades into the background.
4. The category “economic man” has been introduced, that is, only the fact that everyone strives to gain benefit is considered, but moral and ethical principles are neglected.
5. Not much attention was paid to money; most of its functions were simply not considered. Money is only something with which goods can be exchanged.
6. A relationship stood out: the higher the wage, the greater the increase in workers, and vice versa.

Thus, classical political economy is a doctrine that replaced mercantilism, which, due to certain factors (the development of commodity-money relations, the completion of the process of initial accumulation of capital, etc.) did not keep pace with the economic progress of society of that time. However, for science, both trends are of incredible value and are studied with interest not only by economists.

The evolution of economic thought in its infancy market economy and entrepreneurship. Formation of classical political economy

Classical political economy– economic trend of the late 18th – early 19th centuries. They expressed interests and solved problems of free private enterprise. They created the labor theory of value.

The subject of the research is the study of the laws of production of social wealth.

Stages and main representatives

Physiocrats

François Quesnay (1694-1774), founder of the school of French economists. Court physician to Louis 15th.

Wealth is in production, because exchange cannot be a source of wealth. But not all production increases wealth; it grows only where nature works. They promoted the thesis of exceptional agricultural productivity. Land is the only source of wealth. Industry only transforms the substance without adding anything. Quesnay compares the industry to a chef who can boil peas but not increase the number of peas.

Mercantilists and physiocrats

Subject of political economy (comparison of approaches)

Subject. Formation of the classical school of political economy

General characteristics of the classical school. Stages of development

Classical school before A. Smith. W. Petty as the founder of the labor theory of value

Period: second half of the XVII – first half of the XIX centuries.

Predecessors: W. Petty, Boisguillebert

Founders: A. Smith, D. Ricardo

Followers: Jean-Baptiste Say, J. St. Mill, T. Malthus

Classical theory is the foundation and scaffolding of science.

The formation of classical political economy was prepared by the development of capitalism. Classical political economy arose when entrepreneurial activity, following the sphere of trade, money circulation and lending operations, also spread to many industries and the sphere of production as a whole. Therefore, already in the manufacturing period, which brought capital employed in the sphere of production to the forefront in the economy, the protectionism of the mercantilists gave way to its dominant position to a new concept - the CONCEPT OF ECONOMIC LIBERALISM, based on the principles non-interference of the state in economic processes, unlimited freedom of competition for entrepreneurs.

Prerequisites for the formation

From the beginning of the 18th century. – processes of industrialization, in Great Britain, “the first industrial nation in history” or the country of the “industrial revolution”. In 1640, the bourgeois revolution began (Cromwell), in 1688 - the const. monarchy.

Term "industrial revolution" widely accepted to refer to the period of British economic history during which the mechanization of the textile industry took place, the use of improved steam engines began and the factory method of production "triumphant" (ca. 1760 - 1830).

Thus, the industrial revolution is a leap in the development of productive forces, consisting of a transition from manufacturing production, based on the use of manual labor, to factory production, based on machine technology. The industrial revolution is a global process that was characterized by general patterns and at the same time had its own characteristics in individual countries. The first country of the industrial revolution was England.

Changes during the period under review occurred not only in the industrial, but also in the social, intellectual, commercial, financial, agricultural and political spheres.

As a result of fencing, the tendency towards consolidation of farms prevailed. The commercialization of agriculture reflected the general process of commercialization of the entire nation. Already at the end of the 17th century. In terms of foreign trade volume per capita, England was ahead of all countries except the Netherlands.

Development of a financial organization. The origins of the English banking system are associated primarily with the activities of a number of London “goldsmiths” (jewelers), who began to function as bankers (the deposit receipts they issued were actually circulated as banknotes) from the 1660s. Establishment of the Bank of England in 1694 as a statutory monopoly joint-stock bank forced private London bankers to cease issuing banknotes, but they continued to operate as depository banks.

At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. appearance of a series joint stock companies, some of which received royal charters for a monopoly. The speculative financial boom, associated with hopes of quick riches from colonial trade, and the subsequent scandalous collapse of some of these companies led, in 1720, to a legislative ban on the establishment joint stock companies otherwise than with the special permission of Parliament (given extremely reluctantly). The law was in force until 1825, and as a result England entered the “industrial revolution” with a legislative barrier against the corporate form of business organization, which therefore took the form of partnerships or simple private enterprise.

Establishing parliamentary control over public finances: this made government borrowing much cheaper and therefore freed up capital for private investment.

The socio-economic consequences of the industrial revolution are as follows:

the complete dominance of the bourgeoisie in the economy;

a sharp increase in the share of the urban population;

the emergence of new cities and industrial centers;

increasing the share of people employed in industry;

increase in labor intensity;

the widespread involvement of unskilled workers and the replacement of male labor with cheaper labor of women and children;

low wages.

In the development of classical political economy with a certain convention Four stages can be distinguished.

First stage covers the period from the end of the 17th century. until the beginning of the second half of the 18th century.

This is the stage of expanding the sphere of market relations, reasoned refutations of the ideas of mercantilism and its complete debunking. The main representatives of the beginning of this stage U. Petty And P. Boisguillebert were the first in the history of economic thought to put forward the labor theory of value.

Completed First step classical political economy so-called school physiocrats, which became widespread in France in the middle and early second half of the 18th century. Leading authors of this school F. Quesne and A. Turgot in search of a source of pure product (national income), along with labor, land was given decisive importance.

Second phase The development of classical political economy covers the period of the last third of the 18th century. and is associated with the name and works Adam Smith. His “economic man” and “invisible hand” convinced more than one generation of economists of the natural order and inevitability of the spontaneous action of objective economic laws, regardless of the will and consciousness of people.

Third stage falls on the first half of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution ended in a number of developed countries. During this period, A. Smith's followers subjected to in-depth processing and rethinking of Smith's basic ideas and concepts, enriching the school with fundamentally new and significant theoretical positions. Among the representatives of this stage, the French should be highlighted AND. B. Seya And F. Bastiat, English D. Ricardo, T. Malthus And N. Senior and etc.

Fourth stage covers the second half of the 19th century, during which J. WITH. Mill And TO. Marx summarized the best achievements of the school. These authors sympathized with the working class and were converted to socialism. Marx emphasized the increasing exploitation of labor by capital, which, intensifying the class struggle, should, in his opinion, lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat, the withering away of the state and the economy of a classless society.

The classical school developed as a unity of two principles:

- Theories of production(wealth), which rejected mercantilism for its overestimation of the role of trade. Mercantilists noted only external manifestations of wealth(in trade and money circulation).

- Exchange theories(market) developed the ideas of market self-regulation as opposed to state practice. protectionism.

First (first stage) – both theories developed together.

Within the framework of the classical school - divergences (Say's line and Ricardo's line).

During the marginalist revolution, there was disengagement (70s of the 19th century).

Characteristic signs classical school:

1. rejection of protectionism in the economic policy of the state, upholding the principle of economic liberalism.

2. primary analysis of problems in the sphere of production in isolation from the sphere of circulation.

3. development and application of progressive methodological research techniques, including cause-and-effect, deductive and inductive, logical abstraction.

4. Based on cause-and-effect analysis, calculations of average and total values ​​of economic indicators, the classics tried to identify the mechanism for the formation of the cost of goods and prices on the market in connection with production costs, or the amount of labor expended.

6. money was recognized as a commodity spontaneously released in the commodity world, which cannot be “cancelled” by any agreements between people.

In the development of classical political economy, four stages can be distinguished:

Stage 1: the formation of signs of an emerging new (later called “classical political economy”) doctrine, alternative to mercantilism (late 17th - early 18th centuries). Works appeared whose authors sharply condemned the protectionist system and emphasized the priority importance of liberal economic principles in creating wealth (W. Petty in England, P. Boisguillebert in France). The first attempts are being made to provide a cost-based interpretation of the cost of goods and services. Physiocracy appears - a specific movement within the framework of the classical school, which continued the reasoned criticism of mercantilism and significantly advanced economic science (F. Quesnay, A. Turgot);

Stage 2: the formation of classical political economy. This period of development of the classical school is entirely associated with the name of A. Smith, the greatest English scientist and economist of the late 18th century. His famous work “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” became the first full-fledged work in economic science, outlining general basics economic science. Smith's interpretations of the commodity and its properties, money, wages, profit, capital, productive labor, etc. underlie modern economic concepts;

Stage 3: development of classical political economy by the followers of A. Smith (first half of the 19th century). In historical terms, this is the period of completion of the industrial revolution, which marked the transition from manufacturing to machine (industrial) production. During the era of transition to an industrial society, A. Smith’s ideas were supplemented and developed by a number of his followers (D. Ricardo, J.B. Say, T. Malthus, N. Senior, F. Bastiat, etc.)

Stage 4: completion of classical political economy (second half of the 19th century). The best achievements of the classical school were summarized in the works of J.S. Mile and K. Marx. Despite the fact that during this period a new direction of economic thought began to take shape, which later received the name neoclassical theory, the theoretical views of the classics continued to maintain their popularity. The last leaders of classical political economy sympathized with the working class and were drawn to socialism and reform.

Classical political economy was built on the basis of the use of progressive methodological research techniques known at that time, such as cause-and-effect (causal), inductive and deductive, scientific (logical) abstraction, etc. During the period of the classical school, political economy became a truly scientific discipline, studying the economics of free competition.

Economic views of W. Petty.

William Petty(1623-1687) – founder of classical political economy in England

Main works: “Treatise on Taxes and Duties” (1662), “A Word to the Wise” (1664), “Political Arithmetic” (1676), “Miscellaneous Concerning Money” (1682)

The subject of political economy is finding out how to increase wealth, and in particular the amount of money in the English kingdom (“Political Anatomy of Ireland”)

Methodology:- application of mathematics for economic analysis, that is, the research method receives statistical justification for the first time; - method of scientific abstraction

The main provisions of economic doctrine: - W. Petty is the first author of the labor theory of value, which is based on the doctrine of natural price (cost). He distinguished between natural and market prices, changing depending on the relationship between supply and demand. The basis of price - the “natural” price (cost) is determined by the labor expended on the production of goods; - the formation of wealth occurs in the sphere of material production; four factors are involved in its production: labor and land - the main ones, qualifications, the art of his work and the means of labor (tools, supplies, materials) - not the main ones, but they make labor productive and cannot exist independently, that is, without labor and land; - the formula “labor is the father and the active principle of wealth, and land is its mother”; - W. Petty opposed the influx of precious metals, as he saw this as a source of rising prices; - noted the existence of a proportion of money for trade exchange; an excess of money leads to rising prices, and a lack of money leads to a reduction in the volume of work performed and a low level of tax payments; - created economic statistics (political arithmetic) and proposed a method for calculating national income. Theory of rent, land price and interest.

Rent- excess value over production costs, which were reduced mainly to the cost of labor (wages were reduced to a minimum of means of subsistence). Specific forms of manifestation of rent are land rent and money rent (interest).

W. Petty introduced the concept of differential land rent, the reasons for the existence of which are the different fertility and location of the land. He considered the price of land in close connection with the problem of rent. The price of land should represent capitalized land rent, that is, the sum of annual rents for a certain number of years. (the number of years is 21 years - the period of simultaneous life expectancy of three generations, grandfather (50 years), son (28 years), grandson (7 years). This is an arbitrary calculation that did not solve the problem. To solve it, knowledge of the nature of loan interest is necessary

Loan interest– payment for the inconvenience caused to the creditor when withdrawing money. The interest rate should not exceed the rent from the amount of land that can be purchased with a loan. Thus, U. Petit acted as a percentage not as a predetermined value associated with the movement of profit, but only as a special form of rent.

Period: second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th century.

Names:

• Predecessor:
• Founders: ,
• Followers: , J. St. Mill, T. Malthus.

Key Features classical school:

• The first scientific school to propose a system of interrelated laws and categories for the study of economics.
• The source of wealth is not foreign trade (mercantilism), not nature as such (physiocracy), but the sphere of production, labor activity in its diverse forms.
• A labor theory of value (cost) has been put forward: prices are based on the costs of living and materialized labor.
• The principle of economic freedom is substantiated.
• Lassez faire: people, acting in their own interests, contribute to the increase of common wealth. The state must create legal basis economic activity.
• The connection between production factors (land, capital, labor) is shown.
• From the search for external forces and appeals to power, A. Smith and D. Ricardo directed economists to analyze the internal reasons for the functioning of the economy.

The classical school is the fundamental basis of science

Classical political economy arose when entrepreneurial activity following the sphere of trade, money circulation and loan operations, it spread to many industries and the sphere of production as a whole. Therefore, already in the manufacturing period, which brought capital employed in the sphere of production to the forefront in the economy, the protectionism of the mercantilists gave way to its dominant position to a new concept - the concept of economic liberalism, based on the principles of non-interference of the state in economic processes, unlimited freedom of competition for entrepreneurs.

In the development of classical political economy, with a certain convention, four stages can be distinguished.

First stage covers the period from the end of the 17th century. until the beginning of the second half of the 18th century. This is the stage of expanding the sphere of market relations, reasoned refutations of the ideas of mercantilism and its complete debunking. The main representatives of the beginning of this stage W. Petty And P. Boisguillebert were the first in the history of economic thought to put forward the labor theory of value.

The so-called school of political economy completed the first stage of classical political economy. physiocrats, which became widespread in France in the middle and early second half of the 18th century. Leading authors of this school F. Quesnay And A. Turgot in search of a source of pure product (national income), along with labor, land was given decisive importance.

Second phase The development of classical political economy covers the period of the last third of the 18th century. and is associated with the name and works Adam Smith. His “economic man” and “invisible hand” convinced more than one generation of economists in the natural order and inevitability of the spontaneous action of objective economic laws, regardless of the will and consciousness of people.

Third stage falls on the first half of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution ended in a number of developed countries. During this period, A. Smith's followers subjected to rethinking and in-depth processing of Smith's basic ideas and concepts, enriching the school with fundamentally new and significant theoretical positions. Among the representatives of this stage, the French should be highlighted J. B. Say And F. Bastiat, English D. Ricardo, T. Malthus And N. Senior and etc.

Fourth stage covers the second half of the 19th century, when J. S. Mill And K. Marx summarized the best achievements of the school. These authors, being strictly committed to the principle of efficient pricing under conditions of competition, sympathized with the working class and were converted to socialism. Marx emphasized the increasing exploitation of labor by capital, which, intensifying the class struggle, should, in his opinion, lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat, the withering away of the state and the economy of a classless society.

Let us highlight the characteristic features of the classical school:

• Rejection of protectionism in the economic policy of the state, upholding the principle of economic liberalism.
• Predominant analysis of problems in the sphere of production in isolation from the sphere of circulation.
• Development and application of progressive methodological research techniques, including cause-and-effect, deductive and inductive methods, logical abstraction.
• Based on cause-and-effect analysis, calculations of average and total values ​​of economic indicators, the classics tried to identify the mechanism for the formation of the cost of goods and prices on the market in connection with production costs, or the amount of labor expended.
• The category “cost” was recognized as the initial one, from which other categories were derived.
• Money was recognized as a commodity that spontaneously emerged in the commodity world, which cannot be “cancelled” by any agreements between people.

Classical school before A. Smith

In England at the beginning of the 17th century. The capitalist structure of the economy has already received significant development. Wool processing, mining, shipbuilding, metallurgy, cotton and stationery industries developed rapidly. IN agriculture Landlords drove peasants off their land through enclosures. Renting land by capitalist farmers who used hired labor became widespread.

Due to massive land dispossession, many peasants lost their means of production. As a result of the aggravation of social contradictions, a bourgeois revolution led by O. Cromwell (1599-1658) began in England in 1640. After the coup d'état in 1688, England became a constitutional monarchy. A compromise was reached between landowners and the bourgeoisie. The main government positions remained in the hands of the landowning aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie began to play a decisive role in politics.

The founder of classical bourgeois political economy in England was W. Petty (1623-1687). His most famous work is "Treatise on taxes and fees"(1662). Labor theory of value, which originates in this work, was the starting point from which the study of the internal dependencies of production began.

W. Petty distinguished natural and market prices, changing depending on the relationship between supply and demand. The basis of the price is the “natural price”, or cost. He defined it by the labor expended on the production of goods.

W. Petty identified the factors involved in the production of goods and the creation of wealth. He identified four factors. The first two - land and labor - are basic. The other two factors involved in creating a product are not the main ones. These are the qualifications, skill of the worker and the means of his labor - tools, supplies and materials.

They make labor productive, but both of them cannot exist independently, i.e. without labor and land.

Based on the labor theory of value, Petty considered other economic categories. Rent- excess value over production costs, which were reduced mainly to the cost of labor.

Characterizing wages, Petty assumed that it had an objective basis and established its dependence on the cost of the worker’s means of subsistence. Petty kept wages to a minimum of subsistence. He was a supporter of low wages, believing that only in this case the worker would work with sufficient effort.

Based on labor value, Petty took a significant step forward in the question of the price of land. He considered it in close connection with the problem of rent. In his opinion, land price must represent capitalized rent, i.e. the amount of annual annuities for a certain number of years. Petty gave an original calculation according to which the price of land included such a number of annual annuities, which was determined by the duration of the joint life of representatives of three generations: grandfather (50 years), son (28 years) and grandson (7 years). This amounted to 21 years. This calculation was arbitrary and did not solve the problem. For its scientific understanding, knowledge of the nature of loan interest was required, which for Petty did not act as a predetermined value associated with the movement of profit, but only as a special form of rent.

In France in the second half of the 17th century. The feudal system dominated. All land was in the hands of the nobility and clergy. The peasants were personally free, but oppressed by numerous feudal duties and state taxes. Capitalism developed slowly. The peasants practiced subsistence farming. The government pursued a policy of low bread prices. Its export abroad was prohibited. Wars and the royal court drained the state treasury. Need, hunger and poverty were widespread.

The origin of classical political economy in France is associated with the name P. Boisguillebert (1646-1714). In his opinion, the wealth of a nation lies not in money, but in useful things, primarily agricultural products. He viewed wealth, in contrast to the mercantilists, as the sum of use values, and saw its basis in agriculture. Money, in his opinion, should be in constant motion; its role is reduced to a medium of exchange.

Classical political economy in France after Boisguillebert was represented by school of physiocrats, founded in the middle of the 18th century. François Quesnay (1694-1774). It also included A. Turgot, V. Mirabeau, V. Dupont de Nemer, V. Gournay and etc.

The word "physiocracy" translated from Greek means the power of nature.

The starting point in the concept of the physiocrats was the doctrine of "natural order". It meant recognition of the objective reality of the surrounding world, the existence of which was explained by compliance with the “natural order.” The natural order, which was understood as the bourgeois system, presupposed the development of the economy on the basis of free competition, the spontaneous play of prices, excluding state intervention.

The physiocrats saw the source of wealth in production. However, their interpretation of production is one-sided: the sphere of production is limited only to agriculture. The central place in the teachings of the physiocrats was occupied by the problem "pure product" and its production. This is an excess over the part that replaced wages. In other words, by “net product” we meant surplus product. Based on the fact that “land is the only source of wealth,” Quesnay believed that the “pure product” is produced only in agriculture. From this point of view, industry turned out to be “sterile.” Rent was considered the only form of pure product.

In accordance with his understanding of production, F. Quesnay divided society into three classes:

• owners (nobility, clergy, king and retinue);
• farmers are the productive class;
• “sterile”, which included the commercial and industrial population.

The pinnacle of the physiocratic system was the attempt reproduction analysis social capital, undertaken by F. Quesnay in his famous “Economic Table” (1758). "Economic Table" embodied all the main provisions of the physiocrats:

• division of society into three classes;
• the pure product is produced only in agriculture;
• industry is characterized only by the addition of values;
• Farmers' capital is divided into initial and annual advances.

The sale of the social product is timed to coincide with the end of the business year. The whole process can be represented in the form of several acts. Landowners with money in the amount of 2 billion livres (rent received during the previous period) purchase food from farmers for 1 billion livres (Act 1), and for the second billion livres they buy industrial products from the “sterile” (Act 2 ). The “sterile” class uses the proceeds (1 billion livres) to purchase food from farmers (Act 3). Farmers, in turn, buy 1 billion livres worth of manufactured goods from the “sterile” to replace the worn-out part of the tools (Act 4). The "sterile" farmers purchase 1 billion livres worth of raw materials necessary to continue production (Act 5).

The implementation process is mediated by the movement of money. The first half of them (1 billion livres) after the first act goes out of circulation and remains with the farmers. The second billion livres serve sales and ultimately also end up with farmers. Money in the amount of 2 billion livres will be paid by landowners as rent. Taking this circumstance into account, F. Quesnay put forward the demand that all taxes in the state be paid by rent recipients - land owners.

In the “Economic Table” only simple reproduction was considered, there was no problem of accumulation. Quesnay did not show how the remaining part of the agricultural product from the farmers was sold. Nevertheless, F. Quesnay’s “Economic Table” for the first time identified the conditions necessary for the implementation of the reproduction process.

Further development of physiocratic views was reflected in the work J. Turgot (1727-1781) “Reflections on education and distribution of wealth”(1766).

The main ideas of the economic teachings of A. Smith

In the 18th century England was significantly ahead of other European countries in its development. In England, earlier than in other countries, the technical and economic prerequisites for the transition from manufactory to factory were formed. The country was on the verge of an industrial revolution. Its industrial goods were in great demand in the markets of other countries. At the same time, the system of protectionism, as well as shop regulations and laws regulating economic life, have become obsolete. The industrial bourgeoisie demands freedom of enterprise and the speedy elimination of the remnants of feudalism.

As a result, conditions developed for the activation of economic thought; A. Smith is rightfully considered its main representative.

A. Smith (1723-1790) viewed human society as an exchange union, and considered the main feature of human nature to be a tendency to exchange and trade. In his opinion, the desire of an individual for profit coincides with the interests of the entire society. Smith was a supporter of free competition and opposed government intervention in the economy. These provisions form the essence of the concept economic liberalism, which he, like the physiocrats, based on the idea of ​​natural order, i.e. market economic relations.

Smith's work "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"(1776) begins with an analysis of the problem division of labor. Smith examined the division of labor within the workshop, in manufactory, in society, and showed how, with the development of the division of labor, its productivity increases. At the same time, he formulated the dependence of the quantity of product on the number of persons engaged in useful labor and on labor productivity.

Smith failed to resolve the problem of the difference between the division of labor within manufacture and in society. He viewed society as a large workshop, arguing that it was impossible to capture the process of division of labor as a whole; the connection between individual industries was obscured due to the dispersion of industries and a large number employed workers in every industry.

Smith saw the source of the division of labor in exchange. With the growth of the division of labor and the development of exchange, he connected the origin money. Not considering money to be the only form of wealth, he assessed it as a technical means of exchange. Highlighting the functions of money as measures of value And means of circulation, Smith recognized the latter as the main one. He considered money a commodity, a product of a spontaneous objective process of social development, a universal instrument of trade. Smith did not distinguish between metallic and paper money.

Smith devoted a lot of space to questions cost. He emphasized market prices, considering them random, depending on supply and demand in society. The basis of price, in his opinion, is a certain amount of labor embodied in a product. Smith called this amount of labor exchange value, or value. He identified two properties in each product:

• utility, or use value;
• the property of being exchanged for another thing.

He viewed value ambiguously in relation to primitive and civilized societies. For a primitive state, Smith considered it possible to determine value in two ways:

• labor expended on the production of goods;
• labor purchased through the process of exchange.

In a civilized society, unlike a primitive one, the amount of the first and second types of labor does not coincide, since these are different quantities: the second type of labor is less than the first. Trying to resolve this question, Smith poses the problem: what parts make up value? The answer to this question is called “Smith's dogma.” Smith concluded that value is equal to the sum of three types of income: wages, profits and rent.

Analyzing capital, Smith showed that the growth of production and the creation of manufacturing industry are the results of the activity of capital. By capital he understood a special fund of production, the sum of the means of production, a material factor of production. Smith divided capital into fixed and circulating capital. By working capital he understood that part of it that is in circulation. That part of the capital that does not enter into circulation is called fixed capital. Both main and working capital, according to Smith, brings profit: the main one is in production, the circulating one is in the sphere of circulation.

Under wages Smith understood the amount of money that a commodity producer receives by selling his goods. Wages in his teaching are characterized as the cost of labor.

Profit, according to Smith, is a deduction from the product of the worker’s labor. This is the result of unpaid labor, the appropriation of someone else's labor by the capitalist.

Characterizing rent, Smith gave several definitions of it:

• rent as a deduction from the product of the worker's labor, which is appropriated by landowners;
• rent as a result of the action of natural factors;
• rent as a result of a monopoly on agricultural products.

Smith distinguished between productive and unproductive work. He considered productive labor to be that which is exchanged for capital, and unproductive to be labor that is exchanged for income. Smith considered the entire sphere of immaterial production unproductive.

Economic teachings of David Ricardo

In the last third of the 18th century. The industrial revolution began in England. The transition from manufacture to large-scale machine production began. The spread of a universal engine—the steam engine—was of great importance. Large industry took a dominant position in England national economy. Urban population increased due to agriculture. New factory towns emerged. The spread of machines resulted in longer working hours, increased labor intensity, lower wages, and mass unemployment.

In 1793, a long war between England and France began. The result of this was an increase in taxes and the emergence of a budget deficit, which was covered by government loans. In 1797, the Bank of England stopped converting its banknotes into gold. Inflation began, which hit the workers. At this time, the industrial bourgeoisie came to the fore. The economic theory of D. Ricardo became the ideological weapon of the bourgeoisie.

D. Ricardo (1772-1823) he sought to explain all economic categories on the basis of the main, in his opinion, category of value.

Ricardo believed that society has always been of the same type, developing only in quantitative terms. In his teaching, he devoted a large place to problems of distribution, considering them key. Ricardo analyzed distribution on the basis of elucidating the laws of production.

Ricardo's main work "The beginnings of political economy and taxation" contains 32 chapters, of which questions economic theory occupy the first 6. The rest are devoted to the practical application of the theory.

Ricardo criticized Smith for his “dogma,” writing that value should be determined by the labor spent on the production of a product. He believed that value is primary and cannot be determined by income.

In his analysis, Ricardo tried to define the difference between relative and real value. By real value he understood the labor embodied in a commodity, and by relative value he understood exchange value.

Based on the labor theory of value, Ricardo began the analysis of money. He comes to the conclusion that there can be any quantity in circulation not only paper money, but also gold coins, without making any distinction between gold and paper money circulation. Ricardo believed that the ratio of goods and money supply determines the price level and the value of the monetary unit, and the value of the latter depends on the amount of money in circulation.

He defined capital as that part of the country's wealth that is used in production and consists of food, clothing, tools, raw materials, and machines necessary to set labor in motion.

Following Smith, Ricardo characterized profit as an excess of the value of a commodity over wages, the result of the unpaid labor of a worker. But unlike Smith, he maintains that the rate of profit is gradually falling, owing to the rise of wages and the increasing difficulty of supplying an increasing population with the necessaries of life. State taxation policy must take this into account.

Interpreting wages, Ricardo considered it as part of the value that covers the cost of the worker’s means of subsistence, as the price of labor, while he focused his main attention on quantitative changes in wages. Ricardo's theory of wages is based on the provisions of the theory of T. Malthus. He believed that the dynamics of wages is related to the movement of the working population, which affects the supply of labor. Depending on the natural increase in the working population, the demand and supply of labor is formed, and, consequently, wages fluctuate.

Theory ground rent Ricardo, for the first time in the history of economic thought, defined rent as additional profit on capital invested in agriculture. He characterizes rent as a deduction from the product of labor, as part of the value that is created by the labor of workers in agriculture. Ricardo described and focused on differential rent, which is determined by the difference in land fertility, linking the formation of this rent with the action of the law of diminishing soil fertility.

Ricardo was a proponent of politics free trade. Speaking about foreign trade, he drew attention to its usefulness for the country in that it increases the mass and variety of items on which income can be spent, and, thanks to the abundance and cheapness of goods, creates an incentive to save and accumulate capital. Ricardo is one of the authors of the idea that substantiates the benefits of the international division of labor and the specialization of countries in the production of certain goods. He showed that specialization is beneficial not only in those obvious cases when it is dictated by natural and climatic conditions. It is not necessary for a country to have an absolute advantage in a given product, i.e. so that labor costs for the production of a unit of this product are less than abroad. It is enough that it has a comparative advantage, i.e. so that for a given product the ratio of its costs with the costs of other countries is more favorable for it than for other goods. Using a numerical example, Ricardo argued that, given a certain cost ratio, such a country could still benefit from specialization in the production of a given product. Development theories of comparative advantage in international trade was the scientific achievement of D. Ricardo.

Theories of J.-B. Say, F. Bastiat, T. Malthus

In contrast to the Ricardian views on the source of value and the formation of income, a concept was put forward according to which the basis of value is not one, but several factors: land, capital, labor. One of the authors of the three-factor concept was the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832).

Say believed that in production, entrepreneurs interact and complement each other (they organize and manage the business of production), landowners (provide natural material for the production of goods) and workers (create the finished product). The participants in the production process are not in conflict, but, on the contrary, complement each other.

According to Say, profit cannot be considered as a deduction from the worker’s product; it is the result of the functioning of capital. In his triune formula, Say assigned to each factor a part of the total social product: to labor - wages, to capital - profit, to land - rent.

Widespread Say's law on implementation - the law of markets. Say came to the conclusion that in a market economy, the process of implementation is ensured by internal forces, economic life itself, and the ratio of factors of production. Market forces, according to Say, exclude the possibility of a general overproduction of goods and economic crises.

Another French economist Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) put forward and substantiated the theory of services, as well as the concept "economic harmonies". In service theory, production was interpreted as an exchange of services. As a result of such exchange, according to Bastiat, utility is created, representing one of the parts of the total product in the form of goods or services.

Based on the theory of services, Bastiat developed the idea of ​​​​affirming economic harmonies that emerge under the conditions of the development of free trade and free enterprise. In his opinion, capital is created as a result of efforts or hardships with the aim of acquiring some benefits in the future. Consequently, to cede capital means to deprive oneself of benefits, to provide a service to another person. The service provider, therefore, has the right to receive appropriate remuneration, which can be in the form of rent, annuity, interest, etc.

The market economy in Bastiat's teaching is a true device of freedom and harmony, since all members of a market society are forced to provide each other with mutual services and mutual assistance for the sake of a common goal.

Ideas Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) become famous in economic literature after his work "An Essay on the Law of Population"(1798).

Looking at the problem population, Malthus concludes that all the disasters of the people are associated with the natural laws of nature, in particular, with the general and eternal law of population. By virtue of this law, according to Malthus, the population is surplus compared to the means of subsistence it needs. T. Malthus considered one of the main reasons for wars to be “lack of space and food.” He emphasized the desire of all living beings to reproduce faster than the available amount of food allows. The population, according to Malthus's calculations, doubles every 25 years, increasing in geometric progression, and the means of subsistence under the most favorable conditions cannot increase faster than in arithmetical progression.

Completion of classical political economy

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)- one of the finalists of classical political economy, author "Fundamentals of Political Economy"(1848), which became a textbook for several generations of European economists.

In theory productive labor he agrees with Smith. The novelty of his position is that he recommends recognizing as productive work the protection of property and the acquisition of qualifications that allow accumulation. According to Mill, the income from productive labor is consumed in productive form if this consumption maintains and increases the productive forces of society. Therefore, any income from unproductive labor, he believes, is only a simple redistribution of income created by productive labor.

J. S. Mill fully shared T. Malthus’ theory of population; he gave various arguments for measures to limit the family through voluntary reduction of the birth rate, emancipation of women, etc.

The first judgments and interpretations about socialism And socialist system societies among representatives of classical political economy also belong to Mill. He did not agree with the socialists that social injustice is associated with the right of private property as such. In his opinion, the task was only to overcome individualism and abuses possible in connection with property rights. Mill believed that the ideal of life cannot be considered as a “struggle for prosperity”, because “It is only in the backward countries of the world that increasing production is the most important task - in more developed countries improvement of distribution is considered economically necessary.”

Activation ideas state participation V socio-economic the development of society and related reforms cover many problems in the work of J. S. Mill. In his opinion, it is advisable for the state to focus the central bank on the growth of bank interest rates, since this will be followed by an influx of foreign capital into the country and a strengthening of the national exchange rate, and the leakage of gold abroad will be prevented.

Sharing the principle of state non-interference in the economy, Mill emphasized the need to use the capabilities of the state in terms of creating an infrastructure for the development of science and abolishing laws prohibiting or limiting the activities of trade unions.

Social reforms, proposed by Mill can be reduced to three positions:

• the abolition of wage labor through the productive cooperative association;
• socialization of land rent through land tax;
• limiting wealth inequality by limiting inheritance rights.

Economic teachings of K. Marx

By the middle of the 19th century. The struggle between labor and capital intensified. The proletariat acted as an independent force in a number of countries: in France in 1831 and 1834. - revolt of the Lyon weavers; in England in the 30s - the beginning of the Chartist movement. The workers' protests were directed against the capitalist system. In the 40s of the XIX century. the center of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat moved to Germany: in 1844 - the uprising of Silesian weavers, where Marxism arose. Marxism, whose founders were the German thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, - this is the teaching of the working class.

By his own admission K. Marx (1818-1893), methodologically it came at the same time from three scientific sources: English classical political economy of Smith-Ricardo, German classical philosophy of Hegel-Feuerbach and French utopian socialism. From the first representatives he borrowed, among others, the labor theory of value, the provisions of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to decrease, the concept of productive labor, etc.; the second - the ideas of dialectics and materialism; still others have the concept of class struggle, elements of the social structure of society.

The central place in K. Marx’s research methodology is occupied by his concept about base and superstructure, which he announced in 1859 in "Critique of Political Economy". The main idea of ​​the concept is that in social production people enter into certain necessary relations - production relations that do not depend on their will and correspond to a certain stage of development of their material productive forces. The totality of these production relations is economic structure society, the basis on which the legal and political superstructures rise and to which certain forms of social consciousness correspond. The method of production of material life determines the social, political and spiritual processes of life in general. Marx believed that it is not the consciousness of people that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence that determines their consciousness.

The concept of base and superstructure makes an attempt to give an economic interpretation of history, taking into account the dialectics of productive forces and production relations. According to Marx, the non-dialectical approach and the unfounded recognition of the laws of capitalist economics as universal did not allow representatives of classical political economy, who, in fact, discovered these laws, to understand that they have a specific and transitory nature.

According to K. Marx, capitalism excludes the humanization of society and democracy due to private ownership of the means of production and the anarchy of the market. In this system, people work for profit, there is exploitation of one class by another, and a person becomes alien to himself, since he cannot self-realize in work, which has become only a means of subsistence in an unpredictable market and fierce competition.

In K. Marx's arguments about the inevitable collapse of capitalism, the main thing is not the violation of market principles of income distribution between classes of society, but the fact that this system does not provide full employment and tends towards colonial exploitation and wars.

Your research in "Capital"(1861-1863) Marx begins by studying goods- an elementary cell of capitalist production.

Having identified dual nature of labor— abstractness and concreteness — Marx formulates the contradiction between a commodity and the labor that creates it. The presence of this contradiction predetermines contradictions in the entire capitalist economic system. Hence the inevitability of economic crises of overproduction.

Price, according to Marx, equal to the sum of the following components:

• C is constant capital;
• V—variable capital;
• M is surplus value.

Surplus value is the value created in excess of the cost of labor.

C is the old cost, embodied in capital expenditures on machinery and equipment involved in the production process.

(V + M) is the value newly created by the labor of the worker. V is the capital spent on the purchase of labor power.

By dividing capital into constant and variable, Marx had in mind the specifics of their participation in the process of creating surplus value: surplus value is created only by variable capital.

The rate of exploitation is defined as the ratio between surplus value and variable capital:

m" = (m / v) * 100%.

What is new in K. Marx’s theory of capital is the introduction of the concept “ organic structure capital", which is the ratio between constant and variable capital (C/V). With the growth of technical equipment of labor, the share of workers in capital decreases, therefore, variable capital decreases and the organic composition of capital increases. As a result, a reserve army of labor appears - the unemployed.

In addition, Marx believed that the rate of profit tends to fall due to a decrease in the share of variable capital in the total capital due to the accumulation of capital.

Thus, capitalism is characterized by economic crises, unemployment, decreased efficiency and therefore must be replaced by socialism.

Marx takes the labor theory of value to its logical conclusion, arguing that since labor is the basis of value, workers should rightfully own all the material goods of society created by their labor. But since the capitalists will not voluntarily give up the means of production that belong to them, the workers must take them away in the course of the revolution.

The classics of political economy were William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, who substantiated that the source of social wealth is all social production, laid the foundations of the labor theory of value, explored the mechanism of reproduction of social capital, attempted to explain the laws governing economic phenomena, and advocated limiting government intervention in the economy, for free trade. Klassky condemned the mercantilists and believed that wealth should be created through material production, and not through industry.

The teachings of the classical school are based on the labor theory of value. Basic premises of classical political economy:

• 1. research not into the circulation process, but directly into the production process;
• 2. a critical attitude towards the unproductive classes that do not deliver any product (merchants);
• 3. classifying labor involved in material production as productive labor.

Classic model. This direction of economic theory recognized the production of material goods as the real source of wealth. It began to consider economic activity in the form of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of useful things. Classical political economy moved on to the study of the essence of economic phenomena (for example, the exchange of goods for money) and the laws of economic development. Classical political economy created its own doctrine of the wealth of society. She established that nature, figuratively speaking, is the “mother” of wealth. It supplies people with the means of life (fish, fruits, ores, etc.) Labor was proclaimed the “father” of wealth (English economist Petty). He was the founder of the labor theory of value.

According to this model, the system functions in accordance with the rules dictated by the market, and, consequently, the consumer. In cases where, for one reason or another, the response to this impact is insufficient or imperfect, it may be necessary for the state to adjust the impact or supplement the response so that it is better consistent with the general interests.

Economists of the classical school have an extremely negative attitude towards maintaining price levels, creating obstacles to the use of technical inventions, and anything that resembles government support or tacit consent to the activities of a monopoly.

English political economy created the labor theory of value. It argued that the labor of workers producing goods creates their value. The latter compares goods and money with each other.

Smith writes the book “The Wealth of the People”, in which he divides labor into productive and unproductive, talks about 1 the division of labor, 2 the accumulation of capital, 3 the role of taxes, he also touches on the role of the state - the “principle of the invisible hand”, he considers the main task of the economy to be the satisfaction of human needs, and the task of the state is to provide the conditions for the existence of the natural order. Applying the labor concept of value to the study of the capitalist economy, A. Smith founded the theory of surplus value. He believed that factory workers created new value through their labor. The latter only partially goes to them - (ZP), the rest - the surplus value - is appropriated by the capitalists. A. Smith also advocated the triumph of a new social order, in which economic development proceeds in accordance with the objective laws of economics. He considered the “natural order” in the field of economic life to be the dominance of private property, free competition and free trade, and non-interference of the state in economic activity.

A. Smith's ideas were subsequently developed by another English economist D. Ricardo. In his work “The Price of Gold” he laid the foundations of the quantitative theory of money, where he presented his judgments on the theory of value, salary, capital, ground rent, etc. from a critical position.

In classical political economy, a commodity is a product of labor that can satisfy any human need and is produced for sale. A product was also considered as a certain material object, since the basis of all economic activity of human society, until recently, was only material production.

In classical political economy, any objects of labor are of a purely material nature, hence human labor, until recently, was mostly physical, and the means of labor also turned out to be purely material. That is, it turns out that man, as a being living in the material physical world, carries out his technological activities precisely within the framework of this world. In this case, all objects of labor turn out to be components material technological environment.

The nation's wealth is created in all spheres of material production. Riccardo spoke about the problems of distribution of wealth between owners (entrepreneurs), landowners and employees. Labor is the basis of wealth. Wealth criterion: the richest period will be the period in which each participant in the division (provided that the money is divided equally) will be able to hire more workers.

Classical political economy knows three sources of GDP - labor, capital and land (land rent),

In classical political economy, value is determined by the cost of producing a good.

Countries with the classic model of initial capital accumulation include Holland and England.

Within the framework of classical political economy, a number of new directions appeared, which was associated with the industrial revolution carried out in England. This changed the social structure of society: on the one hand, the role of the industrial bourgeoisie increased. On the other hand, this caused the impoverishment of small producers and a significant increase in hired workers.

The classics founded the labor theory of value: 1 heterogeneous products of market exchange have the same internal content - value, therefore in the market they are equated to each other in a certain exchange proportion, 2 Value - labor embodied in a product, therefore the equality of goods in value means that they contain the same amount of labor.

The value of a product is determined by the production costs spent on its production. Man is considered only as an “economic man”, cat. Strives for his own material gain. The main factor in increasing wealth is capital accumulation. Money is just a medium of circulation. Econ. Growth is achieved by increasing the share of the population, cat. Engaged in productive work and labor productivity. The main factor was gone. labor productivity – specialization (saving work time, improving work skills, new technologies).

Salary is a “product of labor”, remuneration for labor

Profit is a “deduction from the product of labor”, the difference between the cost of the product produced and the wages of workers

Land rent is a payment for the use of land of a given quality, paid by the tenant to the owner.

Capital is part of the reserves per cat. The capitalist expects to receive income.

Smith divided capital into fixed and circulating capital (enters into the circulation process and changes form during the production process).

Petits will determine the cost of goods in money, i.e. exchange value. Believed that salary should be regulated by the state (required subsistence level)

Smith distinguished between the natural price of a product (= production costs) and the market price (formed in the market under the influence of supply and demand)

Ricardo includes in the value of goods not only the value created directly by the labor expended on them, but also the value of capital, cat. took part in the production.