INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

The author refutes the traditional interpretation of Classical political economy as a theoretical system, neglecting historical and institutional factors of economic analysis and explaining only one type of economy, namely the economy of a trade society. It is proved that historicism and institutionalism are primary principles of the classical tradition of political economy analysis of the reproduction of social wealth. On the example of the classical theory of commodity economy, it is shown how classical economists reveal historical and institutional preconditions and consequences of the spread of exchange relations.