Economics is an advance in Call to Power II.
Gameplay[]
As societies increase in complexity, so do the systems that support the society. The modern economics Advance ushers in a new age of increased commodification and rapidly expanding Capitalization. With the London Exchange comes the era of business-centric civilization.
Great Library entry[]
The exploration of economics as a field of study distinct from philosophy and politics sprung out of a single work, Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), by the Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith. Before then, mercantilism and physiocracy were the competing schools of thought concerning economic policy. Economists were primarily concerned with the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services. They studied the ways in which individuals, institutions and enterprises sought their economic objectives. A study of economics was augmented by insight into psychology, ethics, history and sociology. With these other fields, one could explain how objectives were formed, how they changed and how humans behaved in the pursuit of them.
Ancient thinkers considered commerce an inferior pursuit to agriculture. This prejudice can be found expressed in the writings of the Greeks Plato and Aristotle, as well as the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, which condemned usury (the taking of interest for money loaned). Nevertheless, as Western Europe pulled farther away from agrarian economies throughout the Industrial Revolution, commerce, and the study of economics became a vital pursuit. In modern times, it became difficult to separate the worlds of politics and economics, so intertwined were their objectives, motives and methods.