Abstract

LINDAO MONTESDEOCA, Roberto Erick; PANCHI CASTRO DE TERAN, Nelly Gioconda  and  AUXILIADORA DE LA HOZ SUAREZ, Betty. History of economic thought and its main currents of the preclassical era. A rational view of economic theories. Investigación y Negocios [online]. 2023, vol.16, n.28, pp.33-40. ISSN 2521-2737.  https://doi.org/10.38147/invneg.v16i28.199.

Concern for understanding economic processes within organizations and societies dates back to Greece and Rome at the time of civilization. This article analyzes the pre-classical thought of the economy, whose school covers three currents of thought: the great thinkers of the Middle Ages, the mercantilists and the physiocrats, from a rational perspective. Each of these currents and their contribution to the understanding of the economy are analyzed. It is a qualitative and historical study of a descriptive type, based on documentary sources such as: books, encyclopedias, reports, scientific articles, and compilations of ideas of illustrious intellectuals on the thought of the economy in the pre-classical era. The results show that medieval thinkers observed economic events from an ethical point of view, and tried to judge issues such as interest rates, fair prices, labor relations, among others, from a moral point of view; the mercantilist thinkers recommended to the rulers the promotion of political measures that lead to the enrichment of the nation; and the physiocratic thinkers considered that wealth circulated between three social groups, namely, the productive class, the sterile class and the owners and that it is the State that must maintain said natural order. It is concluded that economic thought from a rational perspective of theories does not intend to seek to collect history to then reproduce old ideas, but rather, prepare the way to create new ones that are advancing; And it is the very evolution of these ideas that contributes to generating transformations in social and economic policies.

Keywords : History of economic thought; currents of preclassical thought; thinkers of the Middle Ages; mercantilist thinkers; physiocratic thinkers; rational vision of theories.

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