World Economic System: On the Genesis of a Concept

Political-economy has been generated during national economies and nation-state constitution; the theoretical effort that served as basis for the rise of economics as a science may be written within the boundaries of the analysis of national economies. This was, for example, Quesnay’s great contribution when establishing the economic-cycle concept by departing from the agricultural production and circulation process and going through the manufacturing and other “non-productive” activities. He disputed the mercantilist doctrines which saw wealth’s origin in trade, manufacturing, or gold or silver, according to their English, French or Spanish versions, respectively. The reaction Quesnay represented sought to show that wealth formation depended either on agricultural production, or on “productive labour”—what he called primary production—viewing circulation, trade, and the ?nancial sector as “unproductive” activities, dependent on productive labour.