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An Outline of the history of economic thought - Chapter 1

1 The Birth of Political Economy 1.1. Opening of the Modern World 1.1.1. The end of the Middle Ages and scholasticism The feudal economy rose from the ashes of the slave economy of the Roman Empire. The relationship between owner and slave, a relationship that is only possible if the slave can produce more than he consumes | 1 The Birth of Political Economy 1.1. Opening of the Modern World 1.1.1. The end of the Middle Ages and scholasticism The feudal economy rose from the ashes of the slave economy of the Roman Empire. The relationship between owner and slave a relationship that is only possible if the slave can produce more than he consumes was transformed into one between owner and serf. The serf was tied to the land he cultivated and received protection from the lord in return for certain economic and political services. The ultimate control of economic activity was in the hands of the king who could in most cases transfer the feuds from one lord to another. Land and labour were transferred rather than bought and sold and this meant that there was no need for labour and land markets. Authority faith and tradition were enough to guarantee that the system worked well. The relative economic security created by the feudal institutions contributed to an improvement in the living conditions of the population if for no other reason than that the social condition of the serf was higher than that of the slave. At the same time the formation of cities in densely populated areas and the widespread diffusion of craft workshops laid the ground for the beginnings of intense commercial activity. The figure of the independent merchant appeared initially in the gaps in and at the edges of the traditional economy and later in a new economic sphere the free city and its markets the seeds of the modern European city. The growth of the city economies and of the commercial and financial traffic of the urban bourgeoisie began in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was in this period that the first serious attempts at economic theorizing started. Before this there were just a few interesting ideas Aristotle s theories of natural chrematistics that is the art of becoming rich by producing goods and services useful to life and of unnatural chrematistics which concerns enrichment from trade and usury .