The history of economic thought deals with different thinkers and theories in the subject that became political economy and economics from the ancient world to the present day in the 21st century this field encompasses many disparate schools of economic thought . The father of economics economic thought goes as far back as the ancient greeks and is known to have been an important topic in the ancient middle east today scottish thinker adam smith is widely. The history of economic thought concerns thinkers and theories in the field of political economy and economics from the ancient world right up to the present day economics was not considered a separate discipline until the nineteenth century aristotle the ancient greek philosopher grappled with the art of wealth acquisition and whether property is best left in private or public hands . History of economic thought is different from economic history and history of economics while history of economic thought deals with the development of economic ideas economic history is a study of the economic development of a country on the other hand history of economics deals with the science of economics