classical economics

American  

noun

1. a system or school of economic thought developed by Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo, advocating minimum governmental intervention, free enterprise, and free trade, considering labor the source of wealth and dealing with problems concerning overpopulation.

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Other Word Forms

• classical economist noun

Example Sentences

She is the rational actor of classical economics, as imagined for instance by Adam Smith.

From Salon

Would New Jersey lose low wage jobs, as classical economics had taught?

From Washington Times

She also offers an account, through the lens of classical economics, of the broader forces that made it possible to expand social spending during the 1960s, and then began to constrain that spending during the 1970s.

From New York Times

In classical economics, caps on rent increases were believed to limit the incentives to build new housing.

From The New Yorker

We will need to look far beyond classical economics to right this sinking ship.

From Washington Post