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The Romans are known very better as martial and successful state
administrators. The Romans had primarily adopted the economic guidance of the Greeks as
their own. In the Roman society, agriculture was considered as one very noble and honorable
occupation. And the Roman philosophers believed lending money at interest as a crime
equal to that of murdering. In ancient India, at 4th BC, the issues of politics,
society, economics and martial factors have been cast light upon in Koutillya's 'Political Economy'.
From the last part of the 16th century till the last part of the 18th century, (1590-1780), the
expansion that occurred in international trade in England, France and Italy, that is termed as
Mercantilism. With the target of increasing the wealth of the country, the power of the state
and making of surplus in trade, the merchants of England exported more while imported very
little. Goods produced in England were exported in different countries of the world in huge
quantities and valuable metals/minerals (gold, silver, diamonds, etc) were imported.
By the middle of the 18th century, the French took their stance against the luxurious
lifestyle of the rich people of that country, excessive taxation, and the mercantilism of England
and propagated the tenet of Physiocracy. In the opinion of the physiocrats, agriculture
(along with mining and pisciculture) is the productive sector. On the other hand
industry and trading were considered as non-productive sectors.
This way, during the ancient and middle ages, economics has
been discussed in a scattered way. Economics received the recognition as a separate
discipline when the British economist, Adam Smith in 1776, wrote his famous book, "An Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". The basis of today's economics is
this book of Smith.
