نخستین مکتب های اقتصادی[The Forerunner Schools of Economic Thought]

The earliest economic schools in the Western world emerged during the Scholastic period (16th century). Prior to that, significant economic ideas had been proposed by various thinkers; however, as they did not gain followers, they remained as individual economic thoughts rather than forming schools. Nevertheless, these early ideas influenced later thinkers and even the founders of subsequent economic schools. It appears that the first economic school in the Western world was the School of Salamanca, which emerged in the 16th century at the University of Salamanca in Spain and gained a following. Another was Mercantilism, which dominated European thought from the late 16th century to the second half of the 18th century. The third was the Physiocratic school (or the school of natural order), which prevailed in France for about two decades in the 18th century. These three schools are considered pre-classical schools of thought, offering the first economic ideas with coherent features characteristic of an intellectual tradition.