Economic science- this is the sphere of human mental activity, the function of which is the knowledge and systematization of objective knowledge about the laws and principles of development of real economic reality.

The first attempts to study individual aspects of economic processes are known from the works of the ancient Greek and Roman thinkers Xenophon, Aristotle, Plato, Cato, Varro, Collumella, as well as thinkers Ancient Egypt, China and India. These thinkers explored the problems of housekeeping, agriculture, trade, wealth, taxes, money, etc. Economic science, as a system of knowledge about the essence of economic processes and phenomena, began to take shape only in the 16th - 17th centuries, when the market economy began to acquire common features.

If we use a civilizational approach to the periodization of the development of society, which will be discussed in topic 2, then the main stages of the development of economic science can be shown in this way (Fig. 1.1.)

Followers: Mises, Hayek, Friedman, etc.

Historical and logical methods;

Economic experiment;

Economic modeling, etc.

Dialectical method- a method of cognition common to all sciences, including economic theory. It is based on the use of laws and principles of philosophy, the essence of which is the knowledge of economic phenomena and processes in their connection and interdependence in a state of immediate development, in the understanding that the accumulation of quantitative changes predetermines changes in the qualitative state.

Scientific abstraction as a method consists in an in-depth knowledge of real economic processes by identifying the main, essential features of the sides of a certain phenomenon, purified (abstracted) from everything random and unimportant.

Analysis and synthesis as a research method is used in the unity of its two components. During analysis, the object of study is decomposed into its component parts, each of which is studied separately; during synthesis, different elements and aspects of an object are combined into a single whole, taking into account the relationships between them.

Induction and deduction. Induction is a method of cognition from the individual to the general, from knowledge of the lowest degree to knowledge of the highest degree (from facts to conclusions, theories). Deduction is a method of cognition from the general to the individual (testing hypotheses with facts).

Historical and logical methods are used to study economic processes in their unity and integrity. The historical method studies these processes in the historical sequence in which they arose, developed and changed one by one in real life. The logical method examines economic processes in their logical sequence, moving from simple to complex, while freeing themselves from historical accidents and details that are not inherent in this process.

Economic modeling is a formalized description of economic processes and phenomena (using mathematics and econometrics), the structure of which abstractly recreates the real picture of economic life.

Economic experiment- artificial reproduction of economic processes and phenomena in order to study them under optimally favorable conditions for further practical implementation. In particular, an economic experiment makes it possible to test in practice the validity of scientific hypotheses and recommendations in order to prevent mistakes and failures in the economic policy of the state.

Economic science has come a long way in development. It originated a very long time ago, several thousand years ago. Initially, economic knowledge existed in the form of customs, traditions, oral creativity. With the advent of writing, economic thought manifests itself in a variety of written sources: laws, documents economic activity, special works, for example, ancient Eastern states.

From the point of view of the process of formation of the subject and method of economic science, the following stages of its development can be distinguished.

Stage I: The emergence of economic science. The emergence of the economy.

This stage is associated with the emergence and development of a slave society. Covers the period of time from the 4th millennium BC for the countries of the Ancient East, where patriarchal slavery took place, the 1st millennium BC. to IV century AD - ancient or classical slavery.

At this stage, thanks to the famous ancient Greek thinkers Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, economics gets its name and subject. Economics is a derivative of the word “economy”. This word is of ancient Greek origin, “oikonomia” (“oikos” - house, economy; “nomos” - rule, law). Hence, “economy” is the science of household management, home economics.

Xenophon (430-355 BC) characterized it as the science of introducing and enriching the (slave) economy. For Aristotle (384-322 BC), economics is production (subsistence slave economy) to satisfy natural needs, in contrast to chrematism, which was seen as the art of making money. Aristotle laid the foundation for economic analysis by exploring ways to strengthen the subsistence economy, the origin and functions of money, the importance of trade, etc.

Historically, the views of ancient Greek thinkers form the theoretical starting points of modern science.

Stage II. Formation of economic science as an independent field of knowledge. The emergence of the first economic schools and political economy.

The following first economic schools can be distinguished:

1) Mercantilism (from the Italian word “mercante” - merchant, merchant), which became widespread in the 15th-17th centuries. The French mercantilist Antoine de Montchretien, in his 1615 essay “Treatise of Political Economy,” coined the term political economy, which became the name of economic science that prevailed until the second half of the 19th century. Mercantilism expressed “in theoretical form” the economic policy of the state. Montchretien viewed political economy as a concentration of rules of economic activity. The central problem for the mercantilists was the problem of wealth. They saw the source of national wealth, which was identified with money - gold and silver, in trade. Therefore, at this stage, economic thought explores the laws of the sphere of circulation: commodity and money. Typical representatives of this trend in Europe were the Englishman Thomas Men, the Frenchman Jean Baptiste Colbert, and in Russia I. Pososhkov (merchant).

The mercantilists represented the first attempt at theoretical justification economic policy states. The practical progressive role of this trend was that it contributed to the transition to a market capitalist economy.

2) Physiocrats (France, XVIII century). The name of the direction is derived from Greek words and literally means “power of nature.” The central problem remains the problem of wealth, but the source of true wealth is seen in production (agriculture, because

Only the earth has the amazing ability to increase real society). Physiocrats study the laws of production as a continuous process (reproduction); pricing. The idea of ​​“natural law and order”, on which the physiocrats relied, contributed to the recognition of economic laws as natural, i.e. eternal, independent of the will and desires of people, coming from God.

3) Classical political economy (XVIII - early XIX centuries, at this stage, economic science acts as a coherent system of knowledge, which is embodied in the works of A. Smith (1723-1790), D. Ricardo (1772-1823 gg.) is the pinnacle of political economy. Investigating the “nature and causes of the wealth of nations,” the classics focused their attention on material production as a source of value and income (agricultural, industrial) and connected it with circulation. Smith viewed society as both a large workshop and as a great exchange union. Understanding the nature of man, the essence of his relationship and interaction with society formed the basis of the category - “homo economicus” and the natural order, as an order based on the spontaneous action of objective economic laws. The classics became the founders of the policy of economic liberalism or natural freedom (policy Laisser faire) If A. Smith paid the greatest attention to the conditions of production and accumulation of wealth of nations, then the distribution of wealth was at the center of D. Ricardo’s research, and researchers were not limited only to the problems of the national economy, but also considered international trade. The last classic was J. St. Mill.

Stage III. Classical split political economy. Formation of the main modern economic directions.

A critical attitude towards classical political economy contributed to a number of fundamental revolutions in science.

1) Marxism (mid-19th century) - a theoretical concept associated with the names of K. Marx and F. Engels. Marxist political economy studied relations of production as the relations of people in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods.

The basis human society Marxist political economy saw material production. Relations of production are reflected in economic categories. The historical process is presented as rigidly determined, as a process of changing socio-economic formations.

In contrast to later trends, Marxist political economy had a clearly defined class character (proletarian science) and viewed capitalism (and feudalism, and slavery) as a mode of production based on the exploitation of man by man. The essence of exploitation relations on the basis of general commodity-money relations is expressed in the category of “surplus value”.

A historical and critical approach to economic reality revealed the contradictory nature market relations the middle of the 19th century, to foresee the inevitability of social upheavals (revolutions) if contradictions are not resolved in a timely manner. Marxist political economy is the starting point of the radical left movement in modern economics.

2) Marginalism (second half of the 19th century) - the first methodological revolution in economic science. The name is associated with the introduction of marginal (from English - marginal) analysis into research. Unlike previous schools and directions, the starting point in research has shifted from the search for objective, general laws, the natural order to the level of the individual, the psychology of his behavior, expectations, preferences.

Marginalism is associated with the Austrian school (K. Menger, F. Wieser, E. Boehm-Bawerk), the Cambridge school (A. Marshall), the American school (J. Clark), and the Lausanne school (L. Walras). It is the subjective psychological approach that underlies the understanding of such economic categories as price, demand, and production costs.

Limit analysis finally made it possible to widely use mathematical methods in economics. Later, the priority of mathematical methods was expressed in the formation of econometrics, the origins of which were Cournot and Walras.

Switching the attention of economists to the behavior of individual economic entities and to research economic choice, the search for optimal use of limited (rare) economic resources contributed to the formation of a new neoclassical direction, initially as microeconomics. A. Marshall is at the origins of this direction. He tried to take a new approach to the problem of pricing, the relationship between supply and demand, and the study of economics based on fundamental interdependencies. This direction is called “economics” or economics, or economics. Under this name, economic theory is known all over the world, but mainly in English-speaking countries.

Neoclassicism underlies modern trends in economic theory: monetarism, neoliberalism, supply-side economics, etc.

3) Keynesianism (30s of the XX century) - the second methodological revolution in economic science. The insufficiency of microanalysis, the inability of the self-regulating market mechanism to solve all economic problems, in particular unemployment and, as a consequence, the need for state intervention in the economy, served as the basis for the development of a macroeconomic approach, regulation of the economy based on the management of effective demand, primarily consumer and investment.

John Maynard Keynes is the founder of the direction of economic theory - Keynesianism, neo-Keynesianism, post-Keynesianism.

4) Institutionalism (first third of the 20th century) - a critical attitude to the classical and neoclassical schools, to the analysis of economic relations from the position of “economic man”, the promotion of the leading force of the economy not the rational actions of individual subjects, but the activities of organizations, social institutions - the most important idea institutionalists.

They expanded the subject of economics, believing that the study of purely economic relations is too narrow and leads to empty abstractions, and that it is necessary to take into account the entire complex of legal, social, psychological, political conditions and factors influencing economic life.

Institutionalism criticizes the capitalist economy, drawing attention to the fact that the market is not at all a neutral and universal mechanism for allocating resources. Moreover, the self-regulating market becomes a gigantic machine that serves to support and enrich large, major corporations, which are also helped by the state. Only joint coordinated actions can resist the dictates of corporations. Prominent representatives of this trend are: T. Veblen - the founder, J. Commons, W. Mitchell, J. Galbraith, A. Tunberger.

Thus, modern economic science is heterogeneous and is represented by various directions and schools. It would certainly be useful to get to know all of them, but this is not realistic. We will study "economics", in the West this course is called "economics", in content it is a combination of neoclassical theories.

More on topic 1. The main stages in the development of economic science and the formation of its subject:

1. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF FINANCIAL SCIENCE
2. 1. The main stages in the development of economic science and the formation of its subject.
3. 2. ORIGIN AND MAIN STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC THEORY
4. 1.1. Economic theory: emergence and main stages of development
5. 3.3. Development of production factors in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution
6. 2.1. DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC IMPLICATIONS ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF FORENSICALISTICS
7. § 2. Stages of formation and development of international cooperation

- Copyright - Advocacy - Administrative law - Administrative process - Antimonopoly and competition law - Arbitration (economic) process - Audit - Banking system - Banking law - Business - Accounting - Property law - State law and administration - Civil law and process - Monetary law circulation, finance and credit - Money - Diplomatic and consular law - Contract law - Housing law - Land law -

Topic 1. Subject and method of economic science

1. The emergence and development of economic science

2. The role of economic theory in the development of society

3. Subject of economic theory

4. Methodology and structure of economic theory

The emergence and development of economic science

The practical needs of regulating economic life and influencing it in the directions that people need have aroused the desire of man to unravel the secrets of economic processes.

Serious attention to the fundamentals of economics was already evident in ancient world. Many important economic processes were considered in the works of Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, who coined the name of science - “economy”, which literally means “the art of housekeeping”.

However, as a science (i.e. as systematized knowledge about the essence of the economy), economic theory arose only in the 17th-18th centuries, during the formation of capitalism. It was then that science was faced with the task of finding out “how the state gets rich.”

The first theoretical school that determined the direction of economic thought in the 15th-17th centuries. was mercantilism(from the Italian “mercante” - merchant, merchant). One of the representatives of this theory, Antoine de Montchretien, introduced the term “political economy” into scientific circulation: in 1615, he published the “Treatise of Political Economy,” where he declared that economic science deals with economics, economics within national states.

The essence of mercantilism in economic theory is the determination of patterns in the sphere of circulation, that is, in money circulation and trade. Representatives of this school (Thomas Mann, Jean Baptiste Colbert, etc.) believed that people’s wealth is money, gold, for which you can buy everything. Such ideas were not accidental. They corresponded to the initial type of capitalist activity - international trade, which brought large profits.

Mercantilists believed that nations, like merchants, should compete with each other to make a profit, i.e. governments, in their opinion, should support industry with laws that make it possible to keep the costs of wages and other resources low and the sale of goods to other countries high. This way you can achieve a so-called “favorable balance of trade” (a situation where exports exceed imports). Thus, gold accumulation occurs in the country.

Meanwhile, critics of this trend in economic theory rightly noted that during a trade transaction no wealth arises at all, but only an exchange of money for goods and vice versa. When equality in exchange is violated, wealth is only redistributed in favor of one of the countries. When the exchange is equal, no one can get rich.

Economic thought of the 18th century is interestingly presented school of physiocrats. The term "physiocracy" is derived from Greek words and literally means "power of nature." The most prominent representatives of this school are Francois Quesnay and Anne Turgot. They believed that the source of wealth was production, although they considered only one branch of it - Agriculture, where wealth arises naturally and looks like a gift from nature. Here, the costs incurred are paid off by increasing production, obtaining additional product and net income. Income is calculated by subtracting expenses incurred from the amount received.

Over time, the one-sided views of the physiocrats became clear. They associated the growth of wealth only with the natural fertility of the land, and on this basis they did not consider industry as an industry where an increase in income was created. But nature itself, without the use of labor and capital, cannot constantly increase the wealth of society. And, nevertheless, this is a more progressive theory compared to mercantilism, because the question of the origin of social wealth was transferred from the sphere of circulation to the sphere of production.

The most substantiated answers to the questions under consideration were given by classical school. Its outstanding representatives were the English economists William Petty, David Ricardo, and Adam Smith. They established that the wealth of a nation arises in material production, and in all its branches. Its general universal form is not any specific products created in industry and agriculture, but the cost of goods, determined by the labor costs for its production. An increase in wealth occurs when the amount of value initially expended on production increases by an additional amount. This is how the labor theory of value was created.

A. Smith was the first to develop the doctrine of economy as a system in which spontaneous laws operate, an “invisible hand” with the help of which a “natural order” is achieved, effective economic development. A. Smith's theory fundamentally changed the nature of economic theory, which began to turn into a science about the laws of economics in general.

However, the views of representatives of the classical trend were affected by the narrowness of the bourgeois outlook: when analyzing the capitalist mode of production, they presented it as eternal, natural state society.

At the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, economic science was experiencing a deep crisis, and it seemed that political economy, theoretically, as a science, had died. But it has been reborn, represented by Marxism and marginalism. However, a unified economic science no longer existed. It split into 2 branches, developing in opposite directions.

Marxism(K. Marx, F. Engels) acted as a revolutionary doctrine, proclaiming the imminent end of capitalism. K. Marx was the first to apply the method of materialist dialectics to the analysis of socio-economic phenomena. This allowed him not only to criticize the previous political economy, noting everything valuable that was set out in previous teachings, but also to reveal the laws of movement of capitalist society from the perspective of the working class. The main task of Marx and his supporters was to, based on the labor theory of value, reveal the nature of profit (surplus value) as the unearned income of capitalists.

The doctrine of surplus value was Max’s theoretical justification for his conclusion about the irreconcilability of the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and the inevitability of the revolutionary collapse of capitalism.

Marginalism took a fundamentally different position, which can be described as protective in relation to bourgeois society. The defensive position resulted in a reluctance to discuss social aspects economy.

The theory of marginalism is an economic analysis primarily from the point of view of the psychology of an individual subject involved in economic relations. This subject is guided by his own assessments of the marginal benefits and marginal losses from participation or non-participation in the economic process. Based on such estimates, the theory explains production costs, supply and demand, and price. The classics of the theory of marginalism are the Englishman A. Jevons, the Swiss L. Walras, and representatives of the “Austrian school” (K. Menger, F. Wieser, E. Böhm-Bawerk).

Throughout its history, marginalism has been under severe pressure from the competition of ideas, forcing it to adapt to a changing world, to accept common sense thoughts that were born outside the framework of the system and even at first glance contradicted it. For example, in the 90s. In the 19th century, Alfred Marshall (a representative of the neoclassical movement) managed to integrate elements of Ricardianism into the concept of marginalism. He laid the foundation for an integrated approach to analyzing the value of a product, taking into account both the forces of supply and demand. As a result, economic theory gained significantly and began to be respectfully called "neoclassical system".

The main modern economic theories include:

· Keynesianism;

· neoclassical synthesis;

· institutionalism;

· monetarism;

· economics of supply;

· neoliberalism.

More details about these theories can be found in the proposed literature.

Lecture:

Let's move on to studying the economic sphere of society. The word economics is of Greek origin and literally means “rules of housekeeping.” We cannot limit ourselves to this understanding of economics. In social science, this term is used in two meanings, as economy and science. Let's consider both meanings.

Economy as a farm

Economy as a farm- this is the activity of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of economic goods (goods and services), as well as social relations arising in the listed processes.

To satisfy human needs we need benefits. They are:

• public (benefits created by the state: roads, communications, healthcare, education);
• natural or non-economic (goods that are freely available: sunlight, heat, air);
• economic (benefits created as a result of economic activity).

Economic benefits are divided into:

• long-term (house, car, furniture, household appliances, that is, those benefits that we can use for several years) and short-term (food that is completely consumed);
• interchangeable - substitutes (coal - gas, tea - coffee, sour cream - mayonnaise) and complementary - complete e cops (computer - software, Toothbrush and pasta, car and gasoline);
• goods (any things that are bought and sold) and services (an action, the result of which is the object of purchase and sale).

In turn, goods and services can be tangible or intangible. TO material goods include food, clothing, household appliances, and other things. A material services are rental, repair of household appliances, cargo transportation, construction, dry cleaning, tailoring, etc. The peculiarity of material services is that their results satisfy the material needs of a person. TO intangible goods include works of literature, sculpture, scientific discoveries and other spiritual and moral values ​​that are clothed in material form. TO intangible services include the services of a tutor, lawyer, insurance, activities of educational institutions (schools, technical schools), healthcare (clinics, health centers), cultural leisure (theaters, museums), social protection (social service centers, psychological and pedagogical assistance centers, rehabilitation centers). Intangible services satisfy the needs for knowledge, information, counseling, that is, spiritual needs.

Economic activity includes four interrelated and interdependent phases:

production

distribution

consumption

Production is the process of creating a product: a good or service necessary to satisfy a human need.

Production example: the Assol textile enterprise produced women's clothing worth 1 million rubles.

Distribution is the process of dividing the produced economic product or income between members of society.

Distribution examples: Of the 100% bread baked in the bakery, 60% is supplied to stores, 35% to the school canteen, 5% is spent on personal needs. Of the state budget funds, part is allocated for the development of education, part for road construction, part for social payments, part for maintaining domestic production, etc.

Exchange is the process of promoting products from the manufacturer to the consumer.

There are two forms of exchange: barter and trade. Barter is a natural exchange in which a produced product is exchanged for another product. Trade - uh then the exchange of the produced product for money, i.e. purchase - sale.

Consumption is the process of using durable consumer goods (dishes, vacuum cleaner, TV) or destroying (food) goods and services.

Economic sphere determines the course of development of other areas. Libraries, museums and theaters, which are institutions of the spiritual sphere, are created as a result of economic production. Large businessmen strive to influence the authorities and participate in the activities of political parties. Important conditions for democracy are a market economy and private property. The well-being of an individual, family, and society depends on the economic growth of the state. And high family income and housing availability affect the birth rate and the health of the population.

Economics as a Science

Economics as a Science studies the development and functioning of the economy, analyzes the problems of effective and rational management of the economy, and develops optimal ways to solve problems.

For the first time, certain economic knowledge about farming appeared before our era. But the emergence of economics as an independent science occurred only in the 16th-17th centuries. The significance of the activities of scientists and economists is great. Their scientific works are aimed at the economic growth of the state. The main problem of economic science is the limited natural resources necessary for the production of economic goods and the infinity of human needs. The solution to this problem is rational choice, which involves achieving maximum results at minimum costs. You can find out more about this.

Economics is divided into two sections – microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics studies the problems of small economic entities - consumers, households and firms. She explores issues such as: the influence of price/quality ratio on the consumer’s choice to buy or not buy a product; choice effective way production management and increasing company sales, etc. Macroeconomics studies economic processes on a national scale, for example, inflation, unemployment, the business cycle, and the formation of the state budget. This section also studies international economic relations.

The main function of economics, like any other science, is educational. It consists of collecting, studying, analyzing and systematizing information about economic processes in society and the state. Economic science develops effective methods and means of economic activity ( methodological function) and applies them in practice ( pragmatic or practical function). It is also important prognostic function, allowing one to anticipate a crisis or growth in the economy. Of course, economics as a science also performs educational function, which consists of transferring knowledge about economic theory and practice. Thanks to this function, we have economists, on whose level and qualifications the wealth of our country depends. Among the functions there are ideological. It consists in the fact that economics substantiates the meaning of economic processes, the goals of social development and forms a scientific worldview. A perfectionist by nature. That’s why I like to neatly arrange and organize everything, put it on shelves. Now, don’t let the good you’ve acquired over four painstaking semesters go to waste. Here I posted all my answers, coursework, reports and some additional work. They can help you get a credit or pass an exam. If you didn’t find something in the folders, then try your luck in the UNSORTED section on my page, where all 4 semesters are sorted into folders. GROUP KT-43-15. Years of study 2015-2019. The collection will be replenished. Well, good luck: Z Does the published material violate your copyright? Let us know. University: Subject: File:

1. The origin and development of economic science. Stages of economic development

The origins of economic thought go back to ancient times. Already in primitive society, people possessed the rudiments of economic knowledge. The laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi and the economic commandments in the Bible are considered to be its beginning. The founder of ancient Chinese economic thought was Confucius (6-5 centuries BC). Scientists of the ancient world ( Ancient Greece) Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle (5-4 centuries BC) formulated the initial principles of economic theory. Their works reflected the organization of the household and the farms of slave owners. Thus, economic theory during the period of the slave system arose as an applied science of economic management. As an independent economic science, it was formed much later, namely during the formation period market economy, i.e. in the conditions of the formation of capitalism in the 17th-19th centuries. In the emergence of economic theory as a science, three stages (directions) can be distinguished: pre-scientific stage; the stage of solving economic theory as a science in the form of classical political economy; the stage of development of economic theory as a science in the form of “Economics” and the development of modern theoretical directions.

At the first stage economic theory arose as “economy” (oikonomia). It consists of two Greek words: “oikos” - house, household; "nomos" - law. Therefore, “economics” is the science of home economics or household management.

Second phase The development of economic theory is associated with the formation of capitalism, when economic theory develops as classical political economy. The term “political economy” first appeared in the work of Antoine Montchretien. This term consists of three Greek words: “politeia” - society, government; “oikos” – house, household; "nomos" - law. It follows that political economy is the science of government economic management, about the patterns of development of economic relations in the state regarding the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of vital goods.

In the second half of the 19th century there appeared third stage development of economic thought called “economics”. Economics is the science of the economic behavior of people in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of life goods in order to satisfy their needs with limited resources. The term appeared in the 70s. XIX century in the work of A. Marshall “Principles of Economics”

2. Theoretical schools of economic science

In the development of economic theory as a science, the following are distinguished: theoretical schools and directions: mercantilism, physiocracy, English political economy, Marxist economics, neoclassical, Keynesian, institutional, neoliberal directions, public choice theory.

The first theoretical school there was mercantilism (from the Italian “mercante” - merchant, trader). Its representatives in the XVI-XVII centuries. were: A. Montchretien, W. Stafford, I. Pososhkov, V. Tatishchev and others. Mercantilists believed that the wealth of society arises in trade (money, gold). They argued that the export of money and gold from the country reduces its wealth, and the import increases it. However, during a trade transaction, no wealth arises, but only the exchange of money for goods and vice versa.

Originated in France second theoretical school– school of physiocrats (“physiocracy” translated from Greek means the power of nature). The founder of this school is Francois Quesnay. His followers were A. Turgot, Diderot, Rousseau and others. They considered nature, namely labor in agriculture, to be the only source of wealth. Therefore, economic theory (political economy) must study agriculture. Industry, in their opinion, is a “sterile sphere”, i.e. a secondary branch that only transforms the substances of nature. However, this approach is incorrect, since

Nature itself (agriculture) cannot create wealth without the application of capital and labor.

Representatives third theoretical school are the Englishmen V. Petty, A. Smith and D. Ricardo. According to their theory, the source of society's wealth is material production (agriculture, industry, construction, etc.), namely labor. They laid the foundations of the labor theory of value, proved that the cost of any product is determined by the costs of social labor, that the growth of wealth in society is carried out at the expense of profit