Political Views of Classical Economists

As a coherent economic theory, classical economics start with Smith, continues with the British Economists Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo. Although differences of opinion were numerous among the classical economists in the time span between Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) and Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), they all mainly agreed on major principles. All believed in private property, free markets, and, in Smith’s words, “ The individual pursuit of private gain …

…classical theory of international trade, emphasizing national specialization of freedom of competition. Although representation of the classical economist has changed throughout time, its basis is still the center for most political guidelines. In everyday life we live, breathe, and work in conditions that have been set forth previously by all three, Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo It’s hard to imagine an economy, for that matter, a world without these natural ways of being and diversity.