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During a long time, there wasn’t an independent eco thought.

A peasant or aristocratic destiny was common. Profit was possible by trade, but only 5% of the
global eco.

In the mid age had a eco life wasn’t developed as the Roman Empire one’s.

State is thought as a eco unity in the Plato thought. Trade was approach was limited by the thought
of that: respond to the need. The goal of profit, speculation was condemned by Aristotle.

Middle age: same idea that natural law make private property doesn’t existed. However, in practice
war, getting close is acceptable. It’s an addition which make the life better.

1600: When we started to trade in intercontinental level. Discoveries increase the trade between
continent. Asia was very influent. Power was based of wealth (mercantilist).

Idea of increasing export and limit the consumption to have a trade balanced (import export).

Mercantilist: advocated low wages. To be competitive.

Tulip crisis: speculative crisis. Frist bubble. Get that higher that the prices had only to go down.
Everyone start to sell in the same time that crash everything. Only speculation on an assets.

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Adam smith: labour create value

David Ricardo

The problem is the landlord, bc the land are creating value. They are extracting value from other
expense. The labours are producing (they are relevant for the eco).
The eco power of landlord come from the population extend. To extend the agricultural production
you have to exploit the less productive lands. Food price have to increase because we have to
exploit more land. Landlords getting higher share without a contribution to the production. By the
increasing of price, the same land get more value without changing.

The wage have to increase also at the same time than the land.

Stuart Mill

Distribution and not production is the base of eco. Production is changing by time, distribution
matter more from a social point of view. On that we can interfere and bring a moral judgement. The
wealth depends on the laws and customs of society. Society decide the distribution of society by
laws like expropriation, subsidize and tax. We can interfere politically in the eco by the
redistribution. There isn’t no correct distribution (depend on moral standard of the society).

It’s the introduction of normative economy / how it should be. Stuart Mill is utopian.

Critics of Ricardo about the growth of population. We can explain to labour class that we can
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reform the economy. A soft socialism is possible by education. (inspired the PS of Europe).

We have to matter about production to get wealthy to distribute (we can’t only focused on
distribution).

Karl Marx:

Seems like a preast of a religion. When developed his ideas, he inspired by Hegel. Change was the
rule of life. Any force struggles with its opposite. This fighting bring synthesis. For him history
developed this dialogue process (it’s imament to the social life).

He added a twist. For Hegel, the ideas was make the world moving (idealist). The strength of the
spirit. At the opposite, Marx, the practical reality create ideas. The actions which take place
influence the ideas (materialism).

Changes of quantity is changing quality. Ex: individual crime isn’t a problem but the quantity make
it a social problem of safety.

The industrial revolution come from the change of means of production and not the idea.
Bourgeoisie increase his size and power and get conflict with aristocracy. Dominant class use the
superstructure (laws, politic, ideas…) to impose their power.

Russia was a feodal regime (not industrial). The race of accumulation of profit make the capitalism
sustainable.

Social value are created by label (abstract term, it’s seen as a commodity here). The capitalists
appropriate attract the value of the work of workers. The reinvest creates extend of production,
employes more people and lead to a competition. Thus the machine replace some workers, that they
can depress the wages of workers.

Cycle process of capitalism, the succession of crisis are created an installable system.

The Marginalists:

Jevons Menger Walars. The label creates value isn’t true. The coast of production isn’t that
important, the marginal utility that creates value.

Marginal Utility: There is a decreasing of the utility. The exchange value is made by the unity
available on the market. The price that consumers are willing to pay must be less important than the
price of production.

Before we thought that the price came from the coast of production. Marginalists are not agree.

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Consonances affect things. The social structure, and the past influence your way of thinking. As
well as ideas affect circumstances.
Wealth is the circumstances of trade. To be rich you have to import. At the moment of
mercantilism, the land was the basis (industrial wasn’t there). Then came A. Smith (first thinker
who thought in the global scale). Came up with the division of labour = advance on his time and
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already thought of the industrial world. He put the labour as the way of creation of wealth.

Ricardo separated the owner of the land and the exploitation of the land. The rent isn’t the result of
any effort.

Before Marx, the feodal organisation of society, people wasn’t free (almost slave). With the
industrialisation, people had to sell their labour force. The economic revolution, came with a social
change and thus a political change.

Alfred Marshall

Made the economic as an independent academic sciences. Before it was politic economy, there was
seen as very connected. He recognized the social importance and the men kind necessity of it (take
care of the existence). We can’t separate it from the everyday life of individuals.

He introduce the idea of change and time. He describe a movement of economy and the complexity
of that. Everything as to do with everything. One variable can change the entire system. We can’t
understand the entire system without making divisions subdivisions.

Bc the system is very complex, the causes do not instantaneously bring the final effects.
We can’t have all of the variables to understand the whole economic world.

Ceteris Paribus: everything is constant. If you introduce it, that create that. (check that).

The most important in economy is the Demand. The demand changing change prices.
Math as a tool of economy is based on theories.

Hobson

There is an unequal distribution of income which is a problem for the consumption. The workers
can’t absorb the whole production. The very rich can’t use all of their money. The imperialism
bring the idea of invest and opening market in a context of competition in the accumulation of
wealth. He extend the thought of Marx to the need of the imperial expansion.

J. M. Keynes

The first modern economic. He was also politician and intellectual. He one of the guy who was
involves in the Bretton Woods. His ideas didn’t prevailed, Americans was winner and had more
power to wait on the negotiations.

After 1929, he is the only one who explain the crisis.

He realised the potential of savings (waves the way to take precautions). If everyone save, that leads
to an economic depression. The anticipations are a main aspect of his thought. “saving can seen as a
leak”. To compensate the leak you have to put invest in the economy. Savers are workers and
investors are capitalists. The financial system is the link between saving and invests.
The system has the potential of creating depression. This is a price to pay, we can’t avoid it.

The classic considered that the economy will adapt in any case. The wedge will adapt and raise the
demand. However, Smith bore out that the decrease of wedges don’t lead to more employment = no
adaptation of the eco.
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He proposed a new administrative creation of demand by investing of creation of employment. The

problem afterword, is that people instead of studying the all idea, thought that the government isn’t
the growth = create inflation.

Keynes modified the classical thought by affirming that the government have to intervene. The
intervention have to be made with reflexions bc it became a source of problem.

Schumpeter

He introduced a third element of capitalist and workers: innovator. This last part has the power to
drive force of capitalism. Creative destruction create recession.

Steve Jobs: the idea didn't from him, he stole it.

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Eco is a complex system. Every element is interconnected.