Theories of activity levels and growth before Adam Smith

Thomas, Alex M. (2019) Theories of activity levels and growth before Adam Smith. In: Pluralistic Economics and Its History. Routledge India, London, pp. 24-40. ISBN 9780429278860

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Abstract

By undertaking a textual analysis of the key classical political economy texts before Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, this chapter surveys the theories of activity levels and growth in Richard Cantillon, François Quesnay, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and James Steuart. Three key ideas emerge out of this history of economic thought exercise. First, with the exception of Cantillon, all of them recognize the role of capital accumulation in economic growth. Second, the idea that demand should validate supply is present in pre-Smithian political economy partly owing to their methodological adherence to the circular view of the economy. And third, it is labour demand which determines labour supply, a causation opposite to that found in marginalist economics.

Item Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Thomas, Alex M.
Editors:	Editors Email ORCID Sinha, Ajit UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Thomas, Alex M. alex.thomas@apu.edu.in https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3619-8365
Document Language:	Language English
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Area Studies, Economics, Finance, Business & Industry
Subjects:	Social sciences > Economics Social sciences > Economics > Financial economics
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Arts and Sciences
Full Text Status:	Restricted
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/6715
Publisher URL:	https://www.taylorfrancis.com/

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