Hobbes’s status as an economic thinker, on the few occasions when scholars have bothered to assess it, has ranged from “insignificant” to “the father of political economy.” Although not a political economist in the mold of Adam Smith, Hobbes explored the interrelations of government and economics and provided much of the language and concepts, including Homo economicus, appropriated by the pioneers of economics.

Quentin P. Taylor is an assistant professor of history and political science at Rogers State University, Claremore, Oklahoma.
Economic PolicyEconomistsEconomyGovernment and PoliticsLaw and LibertyPhilosophy and ReligionPolitical HistoryPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by Quentin P. Taylor
Summer 2016 John Stuart Mill, Political Economist: A Reassessment
Winter 2004/05 Money and Politics in the Land of Oz
Winter 2003/04 An Original Omission? Property in Rawls’s Political Thought