The purpose of the work. The article describes and analyses the achievements of such figures as S. Desnitsky, M. Bałudjanski, V. Karazin in the process of formation and development of Ukrainian economic thought in the period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is analysed that the most significant influence on the system of economic views of these Ukrainian researchers was made by the concepts of representatives of classical political economy. Methodology. To achieve this goal, both general scientific and special methods of scientific cognition were used, in particular scientific abstraction, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis – to study the sources, provisions and hypotheses expressed by S. Desnіtsky, M. Bałudjanski, V. Karazin, formed under the influence of the views of the classic of political economy A. Smith. Results. The article analyses the views and ideas of S. Desnіtsky, M. Bałudjanski, and V. Karazin in historical, evolutionary, theoretical and practical aspects. It is determined that the economic views of these Ukrainian scholars are mainly based on the theoretical foundations of classical political economy, in particular, on the concepts of A. Smith. Scientific novelty. It is substantiated that S. Desnіtsky's research was focused on the category of "property" and the analysis of property relations; M. Bałudjanski in his manuscripts approved the conceptual apparatus of political economy, studying the market mechanism, situation and competition in the field of agricultural production; V. Karazin, being a supporter of the labour theory of value, developed an agricultural programme, implemented his projects and inventions in agriculture, developing also Ukrainian technical thought. Practical Significance. The study found that theoretical scholars served the interests of resource owners, associated wealth with virtue, justified the existence of landowners and their exploitation of hired labour, and saw laziness, disinterest in labour results, and the inability to organise their work responsibly and reasonably as the main cause of poverty. For example, M. Bałudjanski and V. Karazin saw the cause of poverty of the common people of Ukraine in drunkenness and laziness, which led to moral and material impoverishment; they considered their main task to be to help wealthier peasants who had some starting capital; they received certain subventions from governments.