Growth, Evolution and Contemporary Perspectives of the Science of Economics with special Reference to Indian Economic Philosophy
Joshy K. J, PhD Scholar in Economics, Christ University, Bangalore- 29.
Economics is a social science that deals with the economic activities of mankind. In other words, it is a social science of human wants and their satisfaction. It is social as it is linked to social issues and concerns. The central point of analysis is the different aspects of human behavior in the run to satisfy unlimited wants by using scarce means. It studies the production, distribution, consumption and exchange of goods and services. It is a science as it qualifies the important features of any scientific disciplines- it contains a systematic body of knowledge; it has numerous laws, models and theories with universal applicability; these laws can be experimented according to real life situations. The origin of the term economics is from a Greek word ‘oikonomia’, meaning ‘household management’. Thus the science of economics is as old as humanity. Economic thought dates from earlier Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, Persian and Arab civilizations. (D.K.Singh, 2012). Therefore, the subject matter and coverage of economic science has been evolved tremendously through different schools of economic thought. A school of thought can be understood as a group of people who share common beliefs or opinions or outlook about a particular discipline or philosophy. The science of economics has been evolved through the philosophy and contributions of various thinkers and economists of different time periods. They have added their perspectives to the existing body of knowledge which further widened the horizons of the discipline. This essay is an attempt to describe prominent schools of thought in economics that contributed to the development and evolution of economics discipline over a period of several hundred years. Also this essay tries to familiarize the most significant figures pertaining to different schools of thought along with their contributions.
Classical School
Modern economic theory is customarily said to have begun with Adam Smith (1723-1790), who is widely considered to be the father of modern economics. He was influenced by a wide range of economic philosophers, going all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers. For instance, the ideas and works of Aristotle had a profound impact on the thinking of Thomas Aquinas, who subsequently influenced the scholastic thinking to a great extent. (D.K.Singh, 2012).
It is true to say that the feudal economy rose from the remains of the slave economy of the Roman empire. There were some forerunners of classical political economy. The name of William Petty is very relevant in this context, who made an important innovation concerning the explanation of value. On the one hand, he completely abandoned the subjective theory of value and on the other he introduced the concept of natural value. It means the prices would tend to adjust to the natural value through small oscillations, though the mechanism of this convergence was not clarified. Another scholar John Locke was influenced by Petty who attempted to justify private property by making use of the labour theory of value. Locke’s basic idea was that individual liberty implied the right to control one’s own labour. (Zamagni, An outline of the history of economic thought, Second Edition, 2006). Two major groups, popularly called as ‘mercantilists’ and physiocrats influenced the development of the subject considerably. Both were associated with the rise of economic nationalism and modern capitalism in Europe. Mercantilism was an economic doctrine flourished from the 16th to 18th century which advocated that a nation’s wealth depended on its accumulation of gold and silver. If a nation doesn’t have the access of extracting them, then they should export goods and services in order to obtain them. They advocated for the need of importing cheap raw materials for making manufacturing goods for the purpose of exports and imposing protective tariffs on foreign goods and prohibiting manufacturing in colonies. Physiocrats, a group of 18th century French thinkers developed the idea of circular flow of income and output in an economy. A significant aspect of Physiocrats’ ideology was that they considered agriculture as the source of all forms of wealth since agricultural production generates a clear surplus over the cost. The 18th century saw important pre conditions for the industrial revolution in the form of the spread of capitalism in the country side, increase in agricultural productivity, technical innovations etc. (D.K.Singh, 2012).
Classical school is the oldest school of economic thinking. Economists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, J.S.Mill, J.B.Say, Thomas Robert Malthus etc have played important roles in this connection. Classical economists focus on the tendency of markets to move towards equilibrium position. They believed in the full employment equilibrium. It also focuses on objective theories of value. Adam Smith who is widely considered as the father of modern economics published his famous book, ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations’ in 1776. According to him, it is the division of labour that triggers growth process and capital accumulation that drives it. He was successful in convincing the invisible hand theorem. That is price mechanism is the driving force of the economy. The concept value was explained in the premise of scarcity and cost of production. In connection with this, in the later period, Marxian philosophy focused on the labor theory of value and Karl Marx considered it to be the exploitation of labor by capital. He introduced the term surplus value to explain his labour theory of value. (D.K.Singh, 2012). (It is important to note that the Marxian School directly descends from the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which focused on labour theory of value and the exploitation of labour class by the capitalists. Therefore, this school handles the labor theory of value as a method for measuring the degree to which labor is exploited in a capitalist society, rather than simply a method for calculating price. Classical economists believed in the inherent capacity of an economy and they considered that the best way to achieve allocative efficiency is to leave the economy free without any government intervention. This was the basis of the so called laissez faire capitalism which became the foundation of their theoretical frameworks. While Adam Smith emphasised on the production and wealth creation, David Ricardo focused on the distribution of income among different factor owners. J.B.Say put forward the famous proposition that ‘supply creates its own demand’. Classical economists immensely contributed to the fields of economic growth and international trade. Thomas Robert Malthus used the idea of diminishing returns to explain low living standards. He also questioned the automatic market mechanism to ensure full employment. (D.K.Singh, 2012). In fact the starting point of international trade theories, the concepts of absolute advantage and comparative advantage were given by Adam Smith and David Ricardo respectively. (Mankiw, 2011). J.S.Mill parted company with the mainstream classical economics due to the distinct difference between the market’s two roles; in allocating the resources and distributing the income. According to him the market might be efficient in allocating the resources but not in distributing income. (D.K.Singh, 2012). Classical economists believed that money plays only a neutral role in the economy in influencing the variables. Changes in money supply affects only the price level, so that only the nominal variables are changed; the real variables remain unchanged as they are affected only in the long run, because of changes in real factors like capital stock, labour force, efficiency of labour, technology etc. (Mankiw, 2012).
It is widely recognised that the Classical period lasted until 1870.
Neoclassical School
A body of theory later termed ‘neoclassical economics’ or ‘marginalism’ formed from about 1870 to 1910. The term economics was popularized by such economists as Marshall to substitute the earlier broader term political economy. The neoclassicals followed the footsteps of Classical economists. (D.K.Singh, 2012). The prominent economists of neoclassical school of thought are Alfred Marshall, Lionel Robbins, A.C.Pigou, William Jevons, Leon Walras, Clark, Pareto, Mrs.Joan Robinson etc. All of them have contributed immensely to the growth of economics in their own unique ways. Neoclassical economics synthesized supply and demand as joint determinants of price and quantity in market equilibrium, affecting both the resource allocation and income distribution. They evolved scientific methods with assumptions and hypotheses and attempted to derive general rules related to the behavior of consumers and firms. According to them the economics agents are rational, consumers try to maximize utility and producers try to maximize profits. Alfred Marshall defined economics as the science of material welfare. According to him wealth is only a means to achieve the ultimate objective of material welfare. Many economists following this school, consider utility concept of Marshall as his greatest contribution to the subject economics. A.C.Pigou studied the important aspects of wage structure. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). The importance of scarcity and the problem of choice as pointed out by Robbins paved the way for thinking in new lines. Marginal productivity theory given by Clark, the quantity theory of money by Irving Fisher, Pareto optimality conditions, Walrasian general equilibrium model etc were some milestones of neoclassical school of thought. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). Mrs. Joan Robinson’s contributions in the field of growth models have significant impact on economics of growth in the later periods.
Keynesian School and the Emergence of Macroeconomics
Before the so called ‘Keynesian revolution’ which led to the development of a separate branch of study in macroeconomics, it was existed under the name monetary theory. John Meynard Keynes has rewritten the history of economics and brought revolutionary changes in the field of economics. His teachers, including Alfred Marshall from the neoclassical school, taught the principles based on full employment, Say’s law of markets and Laissez faire capitalism. But he challenged all of them and proved that what they believed was not right. The Great Depression (1929-33) was a period of great turmoil in Europe and America. Their economies were shattered and unemployment mounted to unprecedented levels. Several economists attempted to analyse the scenario and came up with theories and solutions. Keynes, in his famous book, A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was published in 1936, in which he had analysed the Great Depression of 1930s in a very convincing way. According to him the Great Depression was caused by the fall in aggregate demand which he referred to as effective demand. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). As a result of fall in aggregate demand recessionary trend appears which culminated in a depression. Keynes refute the Classical economists’ viewpoints including full employment theory, monetary neutrality, Say’s law, saving investment equality and so on. According to him, during recession, monetary policy would be highly unsuccessful because the increase in money supply would be trapped in the economy as the interest rate is low. Keynes called it as liquidity trap in his theory of liquidity preference. Keynes advocated for massive Government intervention in reviving aggregate demand in the economy. Keynes emphasized the role of Government spending and private investment in determining the level of income and employment in the economy. For him, full employment equilibrium is only an ideal situation, but not common as Classicals believed. It can also be at below or above full employment levels. He considered that the major cause of inflation is the increase in aggregate demand above the full employment level, aggregate supply remaining constant. (D.N.Dwivedi, 2005). He has given the famous quote, ‘In the long run we all are dead’. His analyses are mostly based on short term in mind.
The success of Keynesian policy framework helped almost all economies to rebuild the economies after such a disastrous depression period. It led to the development of a separate branch of economics that is the so called macroeconomics. The Keynesian legacy was continued by his followers extending his principles to other areas of study. Economists like Hansen and Samuelson studied the application of Keynesian principles in different aspects. (Dornbusch, 2010). Harrod and Domar extended the Keynesian growth models into the long run development aspects of developed economies. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). For many years it was widely believed that Keynesian solutions are the ultimate end of it which can resolve all the problems of modern economies. In 1970s an unprecedented phenomenon appeared in advanced economies, the existence of inflationary trend along with mounting unemployment. It is referred to as stagflation, since inflation is present when the growth is stagnant. Till that time it was believed that during high inflation unemployment tends to be low because of better productivity and higher profitability. Besides, Keynesian policy suggestions didn’t seem to be effective in this context and they were proved to bring more acute negative consequences. For instance, if Government spends more to curtail unemployment, inflation would increase further and the situation would be worse. Thus economics has grown much beyond Keynesian School of thought giving room for Post Keynesian Schools of economic thinking. (D.N.Dwivedi, 2005).
Monetarism and Chicago School of Economics
The old monetarists like Irving Fisher, Alfred Marshall, A.C.Pigou etc have contributed significantly to the development of modern monetary theories. All of them contributed to the age old quantity theory of money which stated that money supply is the sole variable affecting the price level. Any change in the money supply has a direct and proportionate relationship with price level. Fisher gave the famous equation of exchange which says, MV=PT. The same idea had been conveyed by the Cambridge economists Pigou and Marshall through the equation Md=kPY. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012).
The most important figure among modern monetarists is Milton Friedman of Chicago University. Other important names in USA include Anna Schwartz, Karl Brunner and Allan Meltzer. The prominent monetarists outside USA include David Laidler, Michael Parkin and Allan Walters. Modern monetarists explain not only the changes in general price level but also changes in output and employment. According to monetarists money supply is the prime determinant of nominal GDP in the short run and general price level in the long run. The output or real income is determined in the long run by the real factors like stock of capital, the level of technology, the propensity to save, natural resources, changes in human resources etc. However, inflation cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money supply rather than an increase in output level. Monetarists refuted Keynesians argument that monetary policy is less effective in comparison with fiscal policies. According to them monetary policy should be conducted in a manner that money supply should grow at a constant rate. Money supply growth should be in line with economic growth targets. They believed in the inherent stability of the private sector and the cyclical fluctuations in the economy are mainly due to bad policies of the government. It is interesting to see that in monetarists’ view point the severity of Great Depression (1929-33) was mainly due to the failure of Federal Reserve in preventing bank failures and the consequent reduction in money supply across the world. If a country suffers from inflationary pressures, it is mainly due to rapid expansion of money supply at a higher rate than the level of output. (D.N.Dwivedi, 2005).
Supply side Economics
The supply side economics was emerged as an alternative to Keynesian demand management policies which were proved unsuccessful during the stagflation period. The supply side economists emphasized the role of managing the aggregate supply instead of aggregate demand. According to them stagflation is mainly caused due to leftward shift in aggregate supply curve cost push factors which increases the price level and curtails the output level. The problem can be resolved if we can raise the level of aggregate supply so that the aggregate supply curve would be shifted back to the previous level. (D.N.Dwivedi, 2005). Arthur Laffer has given the most important contributions in this field through drawing a connection between low marginal tax rates and high tax revenue. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). The provisions of supply side economists include deregulation and delicensing, reduction of marginal tax rates and its positive effects on output, saving, investment and tax revenue, liberalization policies etc. It is better known to some people as ‘Reagonomics’, since US president Ronald Reagon popularized greater tax cuts to boost the economy.
New classical Economics
New classical macroeconomics dates from the 1970s. It uses the neoclassical microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic analysis. The original idea of rational expectations was developed by John.F.Muth, but it was popularized by Robert Lucas. It is an attempt to explain macroeconomic problems and issues using micro-economic concepts like rational behaviour, and rational expectations. In Friedman’s theory when aggregate demand increases, in the short run general price level increases, which induce firms to expand output and employment. In this nominal wages lag behind the changes in the general price level. (Mankiw, 2011). According to Robert Lucas, a prominent figure associated with New Classical School, there is no reduction in unemployment rate since the increase in price level is correctly anticipated and incorporated by the workers and business firms into the wages. It is only the price level that rises, leaving the real output and unemployment unchanged. (H.L.Ahuja, 2012). The other leading economists who have worked immensely in this field are Thomas Sargent, Neil Wallace and Edward Prescott.
The Philosophical Contribution of Indian Economists’ to the Science of Economics
The contribution of Indian economists and philosophers to the growth of mainstream economics is really immense. Indian Economic Association is the oldest and largest association of economists from all walks of life. It is the land with a great ancient civilization and a glorious past. Many of the Indian voices are well echoed in the international economic forums in modern days. The colonial rule over two centuries had a very strong impact on the philosophy of economics in India. It has been evolved through different phases, with the ideas of eminent persons of various time periods.
It is worth mentioning that recent researches indicate that the Indian scholar-philosopher Chanakya who was also called as Kautilya (340 BC-293 BC) as the forerunner of modern economics. He had written extensively on this subject, particularly on political economy. His great work, the Arthashastra (meaning the science of wealth) gave birth to many basic concepts in economics including opportunity cost, the demand-supply mechanism, public goods, diminishing returns, producer surplus, asymmetric information, short run and long run and so on. As the advisor to the Maurya emperor of ancient India, he spoke about the source, prerequisites and major obstacles of economic progress. He also gave emphasis on the role of tax incentives in encouraging growth. However it is quite unfortunate that modern economics doesn’t seem to have any indebtedness to Chanakya. (D.K.Singh, 2012).
The subject of poverty and welfare has dominated the economic scene in India during the last two centuries. An early 19th century economic thinker and social reformer, Ram Mohan Ray (1772-1833) believed that the laissez faire policy would not help in improving the economic condition in India because of the abject poverty throughout the country. He firmly believed that the policy would only be beneficial to U.K. He was the first one to attack the British policy for the drain of wealth which became instrumental for the poverty of the nation. Dadabhai Naoroji (1848-1917) also rejected the free trade policy of Classical school and advocated protection policy for Indian goods and started ‘Swadeshi’ movement for popularizing Indian goods. He first raised the question of ‘drain of wealth’ in 1867 which became the basic theory of analysis of poverty by a well known economist of 19th century, M.G Ranade (1842-1901). His analysis proved that about one-third of the national income of the country was being drained annually by the Britishers. (Sen, 2003).
Gandhian philosophy in 20th century connected economics with social justice. He argued for gram swaraj (independence of rural economy). According to him the strengthening the rural economy should be the base of India’s growth strategy. Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India believed that industrialization was a key factor in enhancing the level of development. He initiated five year plans, followed a socialistic pattern of society giving adequate representation to private and public sectors. (V.K.R.V.Rao, 2008). To add to India’s growth strategies, the greatest revolution in terms of policy changes would be the introduction of new economic policies in 1991 under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister of the country. It has opened the doors of the economy not only to the flow of goods and services but capital and technology as well. It has earmarked a new era in the history of Indian economy by taking a large leap from protectionism to competitiveness.
Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in economics in 1998, is perhaps the most popular face among economists at the beginning of the new millennium. He is the first economist who has won this great honour not only from India or Asia, but also from the entire third world. Sen developed the capability approach which talks about a human being’s ability of functioning in different capacities. Sen defines poverty in terms of capability failures. He has broadened the concept of entitlement which recognizes that the market can ensure entitlement provided, all people can get work and a reasonable wage. (Sen, 2003). There are many eminent economists in India whose contributions provide the country with new paradigms of of economic thinking. The names of Jagdish Bhagawati, Kaushik Basu, Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Raguram Rajan etc. are worth mentioning in this context.
A Historical Perspective of Economics Courses in Indian Universities
At a global level Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) is a popular course, interdisciplinary in nature, at both undergraduate and masters’ levels. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was Oxford University. It was started at the University in 1920s. (wikipedia.org).
20th century was miraculous in terms of the transformation in the field of higher education in India. There was tremendous increase in the number of universities and colleges offering diverse at the same time innovative programmes. The demand for economics related courses has also seen great upsurge, thanks to the global connectivity and prosperous job sector. At present, most of the Indian universities and colleges offer courses at undergraduate and masters’ levels with all possible specializations in economics. But this was not the case till the end of 19th century. It was due to two major reasons; one, in India the science of economics has evolved into its present form only in the last century. Second, since the country was under the British Raj till 1947, the few universities functioning in the country, were following a system which were in their crude forms. For instance, Bombay University calendar during 1869-70 shows that it was offering only one subject related to economics as part of the BA course. Political economy paper was offered as an elective paper because the science of economics was in the initial stages of its evolution. (University of Bombay Calendar, 1869). The Indian Economics department was established in the Madras University in 1912. (University of Madras). Endowments were made to establish departments of Indian History, Archaeology, Comparative Philology and Indian Economics. (wikipedia.org). The Department of Economics at Allahabad university became a full-fledged department in 1914, with the appointment of Herbert Stanley Jevons (son of the marginalist, W.S. Jevons) as the first Professor of Economics and Head. A post-graduate course was also introduced the same year, so that the fledgling department offered both, under-graduate and post-graduate courses. . However, some sources also point to the year 1908, when the teaching of Economics as a subject commenced at the under-graduate level, though it remained under the Head of the then History Department. (Official website, University of Allahabad). The Delhi School of Economics began in 1949, soon after independence as a result of the efforts of a group of visionaries including the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Prof. V.K.R.V.Rao. The main objective was to create a centre for advanced studies in the social sciences comparable with global standard. At present, the School comprises four important departments, namely of economics, geography, commerce and sociology. The Centre for Development Economics was created within the department of economics in 1993 with an aim to strengthen the research infrastructure. (Official Website, Delhi University).
In Karnataka, The University of Mysore was established in 1916. The Department of Economics and Cooperation is one of the largest departments under the Faculty of Arts in the University. Though the department was started in the year 1916, it had no independent existence. Master's degree course was started in the year 1926 along with BA course in Maharaja's college. (Official website, University of Mysore). St. Agnes college was established in 1921 and economics was one of the subjects offered in all combinations in the humanities stream. The credit to start mathematical economics for the first time goes to this college. (Official website, St. Agnes College). Bangalore University was established in the year 1964 and then the department of economics, which was established in 1962 in Central College as a postgraduate department of the University of Mysore, came under the jurisdiction of the new university as the Department of Economics. A three year B.A Economics (Honours) course was introduced in 1967 with the aid from Danforth Foundation, USA. The course was modelled on the American pattern, headed by Dr. Quincy Adams. The M.A, Economics course was introduced in 1969 in the Central College Campus. (Official website, University of Bangalore). Christ University, Bangalore was established in 1969 as Christ College. It was affiliated to Bangalore University until it was conferred with the ‘Deemed to be University’ status in 2008. The Department of Economics was started in 1969 itself and different courses with economics were offered. (Official Website, Christ University, Bangalore).
Conclusion
In a closer analysis we can see that the growth and evolution of the subject economics happened systematically over a long period through additions and deletions by numerous economists, philosophers and policy makers. It is very important to note that economics is still an evolving subject as it deals with society and human behavior. It is the reason by which the domains of economics have been extended to new horizons. Interdisciplinary researches have been increasingly important in modern days. It also contributes to new thinking and new ways of finding solutions to existing problems. The issues pertaining to developing world are also widely addressed. The globalization and market integration moves have made it important to address issues globally rather than looking at issues at a micro level. The science of economics is still awaiting revolutionary changes that suit the current needs of the economies. In fact the changes happening in the economic front in all countries are clear signs of the changing philosophy of the science of economics.
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