Classical macroeconomic model (18TH-19TH CENTURY)

lassical macroeconomic model is first developed by French economist Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), and later revised by other classical economists.

Through the assumptions of factor and product price flexibility, and in the absence of regulations which prevent the market adjustment of demand and supply, full employment equilibrium will be reached in the classical macroeconomic model.

Also see: new classical macroeconomics, Say’s law, stationary state, wages fund doctrine

Classical economics or classical political economy is a school of thought in economics that flourished, primarily in Britain, in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th century. Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. These economists produced a theory of market economies as largely self-regulating systems, governed by natural laws of production and exchange (famously captured by Adam Smith’s metaphor of the invisible hand).

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in 1776 is usually considered to mark the beginning of classical economics. The fundamental message in Smith’s book was that the wealth of any nation was determined not by the gold in the monarch’s coffers, but by its national income. This income was in turn based on the labor of its inhabitants, organized efficiently by the division of labour and the use of accumulated capital, which became one of classical economics’ central concepts.

In terms of economic policy, the classical economists were pragmatic liberals, advocating the freedom of the market, though they saw a role for the state in providing for the common good. Smith acknowledged that there were areas where the market is not the best way to serve the common interest, and he took it as a given that the greater proportion of the costs supporting the common good should be borne by those best able to afford them. He warned repeatedly of the dangers of monopoly, and stressed the importance of competition. In terms of international trade, the classical economists were advocates of free trade, which distinguishes them from their mercantilist predecessors, who advocated protectionism.

The designation of Smith, Ricardo and some earlier economists as “classical” is due to Karl Marx, to distinguish the “greats” of economic theory from their “vulgar” successors. There is some debate about what is covered by the term classical economics, particularly when dealing with the period from 1830–75, and how classical economics relates to neoclassical economics.