От Петти к Смиту: происхождение классической политэкономии в историко-научной и мир-системной ретроспективе

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the anniversaries of W. Petty and A. Smith in 2023 and examines the legacy of the classics of English political economy in the context of the problem of the influence of the European Scientific Revolution of the XVII century on the British Industrial Revolution of the XVIII century. The historical significance of the heyday of British clock-making as a by-product of the Scientific Revolution of the XVII century and the prerequisites for the accumulation of human capital in England, necessary for a technological breakthrough into industrial civilization, are highlighted. Various interpretations by economists and historians of thought of the framework of classical political economy and A. Smith's attitude to the Industrial Revolution are compared. The W. Petty’s anticipation in the "Additions to the Political Arithmetic" of the role of innovative clockmaking and coal resources as British competitive advantages is noted. It is shown that the evolution of English political economy from balance-of-trade doctrine to A. Smith’s «system of natural freedom» reflected the conquest by England of the hegemonist position in the formed capitalist World-System.