History of Economic Thought Syllabus

Semester I · Credit Hours 3 · Full Marks 100 · Pass Marks 50 · Lecture Hours 48

Course Objectives: To make students familiar with the evolution of economic ideas, schools of thought, factors influencing the development of economic ideas, and their relevance in their respective eras.

Unit I: Introduction to Oriental and Occidental Economic Thought (10 Hours)

Oriental economic thought — Buddhism: right to live, help and cooperation, consumption and well-being, optimum use of earning, moderation, critical evaluation; Hinduism: wealth creation, social capital, trusteeship and cooperation, critical evaluation; Koutilya's Arthasastra: saptanga theory, economic power (agriculture and trade), state governance, happiness of people, economic diplomacy, and critical evaluation; Confucianism: seeking continuity, resources, source of economic motivation, importance of work, principal economic institutions, wealth distribution, critical evaluation.

Hebrew economic thought: price, interest, wages, agriculture, property, trade, taxes, labor, and Sabbath (holidays/leisure). Roman economic thought: agriculture, life of people, investment, price. Greek economic thought — Plato: division of labor, social classes, value of money, interests; Aristotle: slavery system, value in use and value in exchange, money, private property; Xenophon: division of labor, management of the domestic economy, development of nation, population, and prosperity.

Unit II: Pre-classical Economic Ideas (5 Hours)

Physiocrats: principles; economic ideas — natural order, net products, circular flow of wealth, taxation, trade. Mercantilism: principles; economic ideas — plenty or power, foreign trade, money, price and interest, wages and employment, critical evaluation.

Unit III: Classical Economic Ideas (8 Hours)

Adam Smith: division of labour, theory of value and distribution, economic growth and international trade, public debt and taxation. David Ricardo: theory of distribution, theory of growth, theory of value, theory of international trade. J. S. Mill: philosophy and economic policy, the principle of political economy, theory of growth.

Unit IV: Socialistic Economic Thought (8 Hours)

Review of socialist ideas before Karl Marx: contributions of Saint Simon, Sismondi, Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Louis Blanc, Pierre Joseph Proudhon. Karl Marx: philosophy, labour theory of value, theory of price, theory of development, business cycle; critical evaluation of Marxist economic ideas.

Unit V: Post-classical Economic Thought (10 Hours)

Neo-classical economics: overview, Jevons, Walras, Menger, Wickseed, Marshall, Clark. Institutional economics — Thorsten Veblen: economic ideas, the theory of the leisure class, critical evaluation. Welfare economics — John A. Hobson: ideas of economic welfare; Arthur Cecil Pigou: idea of economic welfare. New economics — J. M. Keynes: theory of income and employment, theory of economic development.

Unit VI: Economic Thought of Nepal (7 Hours)

Ancient economic thought: Kirat and Lichhavi period — agriculture as an economic foundation, cooperation. Medieval economic thought: Malla period — agriculture and trade. Modern economic thought: Dibya Upades of P. N. Shah, closed economy of Rana rule, planned economy in the Panchayat period, planned and liberal economy in the present context.

References

• Ghosh, B. N. & Ghosh, R. (2010). Concise history of economic thought. Himalaya Publishing House.
• Rist, C., & Gide, C. (2022). A history of economic doctrines from the time of the physiocrats to the present day. DigiCat.
• Haney, L. H. (1997). History of economic thought. Surjeet Publication.
• Paul, R. R. (2011). History of economic thought. Kalyani Publishers.
• Roll, E. (1988). History of economic thought. Oxford University Press.
• Schumpeter, J. A. (1954). History of economic analysis. Oxford University Press.
• Vaish, M. C. (1998). History of economic thought. S. Chand and Company.
• Chang, J. L. (1987). History of Chinese economic thought: Overview and recent works. History of Political Economy, 19, 481-502.
• Poznanski, K. (2015). Confucian economics: The world at work. World Review of Political Economy, 6(2), 208-251.