ABSTRACT
More than one hundred and fifty years have passed since the decline of classical political economy. Yet the task of specifying its distinguishing features remains unfinished. At the same time, it becomes more and more evident that the weaknesses of neo-classical economics require, for their adequate comprehension, a coming to terms with classical thought. In spite of, or possibly because of, this fact the investigation of classical political economy has been removed from the agenda of contemporary analysis. Current economics is not only thinking which is blind to its origins, it is thinking which has blinded itself to those origins in order the better to remove from its sight the frailty of its own foundations.
