ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to compare what James Steuart and Adam Smith think about the relation between economics and politics. It discusses the concepts of political economy and science, specially that of the economic, since the beginning of the 17th century until the time when both authors published their books. The chapter analyzes some key points in Steuart’s political economy: the way he envisions the science of political economy and the way in which the regulation of economic interests is carried out. For Steuart, political economy is both a science and an art. The notion of political economy emerged in France around 1611, in a context marked by the Religious Wars and the assassination of Henry IV, king of France and Navarre. The idea of an economic science based on calculations was developed by Mira-beau in Rural Philosophy, a book written in close collaboration with Francois Quesnay.
