Most of the ideologies of the modern world of economics have been shaped by three prominent economists of the past. These economists are Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. Although the theories of all of these men are uniquely different, they all share one common characteristic; They all were used as a blueprint for our economic structure that we use today. Examining these differences can be just as important as the theories themselves.
Adam Smith's theory of economics established capitalism as the only moral economic system. He believed man to be basically self-interested, though capable of relating to others through sympathy. Smith's theory of economics developed from his ideas regarding the proper relations among men. As each person had a right to the product of their work, they also had a right to keep or trade it as they saw fit. While Smith's moral philosophy's emphasis on sympathy and his economic theory's emphasis on self-interest seem to clash, they don't. Smith is always a proponent of justice. Never does Smith allow for any sort of theft or breach of respect. Thus, through capitalism and free trade, each transaction benefits each participant, while no one trades value for non-value, and no one demands what belongs to another, because people can sympathize with others. Smith points out the mutual benefit to city dwellers and farmers of trading manufactured goods for produce or money for either and other detailed examples of the mechanisms of capitalism in his 1778 work The Wealth of Nations. .
Karl Marx was a philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary. He was largely ignored by scholars in his lifetime, but after his death his influence increased with the growth of the labour movement. Marx's ideas and theories came to be known as Marxism, or scientific socialism. His analysis of capitalist economy and his theories of historical materialism, the class struggle, and surplus value have become the basis of modern socialist doctrine.