According to Adam Smith economics enquires into the factors that determine wealth of a country and its growth. In his book Wealth of Nation Smith analyses the factors that determine the growth of the volume of production. “The great object of Political Economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of that country”. Adam Smith emphasised the production and expansion of wealth as the subject matter of economics. However, Ricardo shifted the emphasis from the production of wealth to the distribution of wealth. Ricardo writes: “The produce of earth – all that is derived from its surface by the united application of labour, machinery and capital is divided among three classes of the community, namely, the proprietor of land, the owner of the stock of capital necessary for its cultivation, and the labourers by whose industry it is cultivated”. He further writes “To determine the law which regulate this distribution, is the principal problem in political economy”
Besides Adam Smith and Ricardo, other classical economists too regarded economics as study of wealth.
J.B Say – French economist – “Economics is the science which treats of wealth”
F.A Walker – “Political Economy or Economics is the name of that part of knowledge which relates to wealth”
Critical evaluation
Carlyle and Ruskin – ‘Gospel of Mammon worship’, a ‘Pig science’ and ‘dismal science’
They said that economists have ignored the higher values of life and are hankering after formulation of laws which seek “to enrich both the people and sovereign”
Malthus, a renowned economist, makes it clear as to why only material goods are regarded as wealth. He writes: “If we wish to attain anything like precision in our inquiries, when we treat of wealth we must narrow the field of enquiry and draw some line which will leave us only those objects, the increase or decrease of which is capable of being estimated with more accuracy”
Prof. Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, have emphasised the role of education, health and good administration and have shown that they greatly raise the productivity of man and promote economic growth of the nation.
