The lectures of the History of Economic Thought course are distinguished by a series of introductory and advanced topics. The didactic aim is to understand the genesis and development of dominant and unconventional theoretical approaches, mainly from the time of Adam Smith to the present day.
The approach of the course is historical and analytical. The evolution of economic thought is presented as a successive series of changes in the perception and consideration of the nature of the socio-economic process. These changes in the “vision” (vision according to Schumpeter) of the dominant version of economic thought entail each time the construction of new analytical concepts and categories and a new theoretical model of their structure. The course therefore emphasises the historical character of economic theories and the way in which actual socio-economic phenomena shape the development of economic theory.
At the same time, the course discusses the relevance and usefulness of various streams of economic thought to the classical issues of value and distribution theory and to contemporary problems as they emerged in the 20th century in Western economies (unemployment, social inequalities, etc.). The course places particular emphasis on the genesis and history of neoclassical theory in order to provide a fuller understanding and critical treatment of the predominantly taught economic theory and to approach it as part of the history of economic theories.