Economic thought is a set of studies that follow the human steps used in the search for and discovery of economic laws; By studying the research and opinions of scholars on the phenomena of material economy, from the primitive era through the Greek and Roman eras, all the way to the European era and the modern era; Where all these eras formed the foundations and studies that led to the establishment and emergence of economics.

It is not possible to understand and realize the science of economics and its nature without knowing its history, just as the history of economic thought was not a widespread intellectual field among many people. Its spread depended on the emergence of many economic books and scientific literature that provided benefits to economic researchers. Economic thought has a life of its own.

As for the general reality, it indicates that all economic ideas are linked with their spatial and temporal production, and they cannot be considered to have a life of their own and separate from reality. That is, about the ordinary life associated with the world that these ideas are interested in explaining, and just as the world witnesses development, so does economic thought develop so that it can maintain its importance.

- Primitive economic thought:
Primitive economic thought was born in conjunction with the emergence of the first ancient civilizations, such as the Indian, Greek, Roman and Chinese, until reaching the Arab civilization, and the emergence of many philosophers and thinkers belonging to these civilizations, such as Aristotle in the Greek civilization, and Ibn Khaldun in the Arab civilization, and the writer Schumpeter believes that researchers and scholars The economics that appeared in the time period between the fourteenth century and the seventeenth century AD are the ones who contributed to the establishment of the rules of economics.

The theories of the Arab scholar and thinker Ibn Khaldun also constituted a kind of economic entrepreneurship. As many of his theories on economics were not widely known in Europe, and then both the natural and commercial schools were keen to add several economic concepts and terms, which led to the emergence of the national and capitalist economy in Europe.

Classical economic thought:
The publication of the scientist, thinker and economic philosopher Adam Smith of his book (The Wealth of Nations) contributed to the promotion of economics as one of the sciences, as this book was keen to identify the productive factors represented in capital, labor, and land, and pointed out that these major factors are the basis of private wealth Nations, as Smith sees it, that the perfect system of economics is known as the self-regulating market system; Because it is keen to provide all the needs of individuals automatically, and described the market as contributing to encouraging individuals to work to achieve their needs, which leads to achieving the best benefit for society.

Marxist economic thought:
The emergence of the stage of Marxist economic thought goes back to the ideas of the philosopher and thinker Marx, where he was concerned with the absence of any individual ownership of property and productive elements through the workers’ class seeking to revolt against the class of owners and those in control of the factors of production. The proletariat is dictatorial, as its economy and society are concerned with the necessity of achieving justice and equality among individuals in terms of economic resources, and this encouraged the establishment of communist thought.

With the passage of time, Marxist economic thought and Marxism in general witnessed a remarkable decline in all its aspects, as Marxist thought became forgotten as a result of ignorance in it and the coups that occurred in the early sixties of the twentieth century AD. Marxism witnessed a coup, one of the most important results of which was the fall of the Soviet Union.

Keynesian economic thought:
The foundation of Keynesian economic thought was based on the theory of the thinker and economist John Keynes, where he was interested in studying both the public and private sectors of the economy, which are known economically as the mixed economy. Through his theory that all macroeconomic trends contribute to determining individual behavior within the microeconomic, and this is consistent with the views of classical economic thinkers about the impact of demand for goods, and characterized by an important role in economic recessions, as he believes that governments depend on aggregate demand in fighting depression. and unemployment.

A belief spread during the stage of the emergence of the Great Depression that the economy was not inclined to natural total employment according to the principle of the classical economists known as the invisible hand, and that the modern theory of employment did not agree with the classical theory. to achieve a balance in its output in conjunction with the existence of inflation and unemployment; Therefore the total employment state according to Keynesian economic thought is a non-permanent state.

The importance of studying economic thought and its history has been linked to the quality and nature of the opinions of economic thinkers, which led to their division into several groups. A group of them believes that there is no need to pay attention to studying economic thought and its history, because it contains many errors, while another group believes that economics cannot be understood, While studying its history, it is possible to summarize the importance of studying economic thought according to the following:

- Recognize the nature of the association of economic ideas with antiquity.
- Understand the foundations of the emergence and origins of economics.
- Knowing the role of economic thought in building and preparing the political and economic systems of countries.
- The ability to compare various economic ideas; Which contributes to reaching balanced judgments.