The Political Economy of Antoine De Montchretien (Toward the 400th Anniversary of «Traicté de l’économie politique»)

Abstract

A. de Montchretien is known mainly by the fact that in 1615 coined the term «political economy», which became the name of science. The purpose of this publication is to consider what the author puts in this concept. At this angle the first time in the domestic literature was analyzed «Treatise on political economy» by A. de Montchretien (used the publication of 1889 in the edition T. Funk-Brentano). The article shows that Montchretien uses the phrase «political economy» for the presentation of a set of rules of economic activity across the state. The ideal of Montchretien - economically active people, honest and hardworking and the country, similar to a well-managed company. In his treatise the author tries to answer the main questions of political economy - what is national wealth, where is its source and what are the methods to increase it? An analysis of his book leads to the conclusion that he came to an understanding of wealth as a natural product created by labor. This allows to put Montchretien between mercantilists and economists of the classical school of political economy.