Economic Thought
Beginning a research paper isn't easy. Paper Masters suggests you start by noting that economics has a long philosophic history. Paper Masters custom writes research papers on any aspect of economic thought or any economist that you need written on.
Economic thought research papers report that "economics" came into being as a particular field in the eighteenth century. It was in the earlier nineteenth century, with the growth of industrialism and the rise of business interests along with the rise of the bourgeoisie that economic thought became an integral and often instrumental part of society. Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, economic thought became complex and sophisticated. The place of economics became such that some economists became well-known figures in academics and the general society. Notable economists that have contributed to the field are as follows:
- Adam Smith
- Karl Marx
- John Kenneth Galbraith
There are many economists who are not only well-known, but whose thinking has affected many societies to some extent, as in the case of Marx, the course of history.
"In the late 1960s many economists believed that the problems of regulating the overall performance of modern free-enterprise economies had been solved." Economic thinkers and public officials and businesspersons came to this position because the economic performance of the developed countries in the decades after World War II was self-evidently superior to that any period of the past. The general populations of the developed countries, primarily the United States and Western Europe, had a high standard of living. The standard of living in less-developed countries such as Japan and India was rising because of their adoption of what were taken to be the proven economic principles of free enterprise.
In "Wealth of Nations," Smith introduced such terms as laissez faire and the "invisible hand" of competition. Smith and the other classical economists are sometimes looked at as liberal economists because of the significance they placed on freedom in an economy. Businesses were free to produce what goods they wanted, to pursue the markets they wanted, and to innovate as they wanted. Individuals were free to make choices about what goods they wanted to buy. The relationship between these two major parts of the economy led to what goods were produced, the prices for them, and their distribution.
The economic ideas of the classical liberal economists are the basis for the free-market economy of most democratic, Western nations today. Businesses continually aim to produce goods or offer services to satisfy the needs and interests of consumers. In this free-market economy, advertising and marketing have come to play a central role in attempting to persuade consumers to exercise their freedom by purchasing certain goods. Government regulation of business is mainly concerned with insuring that the "invisible hand" is allowed to keep operating in the economy; by preventing monopolies from controlling certain markets, for instance. Leaders of corporations and other businesses in democratic countries take as articles of faith the principles of laissez-faire and the invisible hand treated extensively by Smith and the other classical economists. The classical liberal economists saw economics as inter-related to politics and to society in general. In 1959, Smith published a book titled "The Theory of Moral Sentiments." The economic writings of Smith and the other classical liberals reflected the values and ideals of democratic societies. Just as the democratic value of freedom played a central role in the politics of these societies and the lives of their members, it also played a central role in their economies.