1. Classical economics and Finland
Anders (Antti) Chydenius (1729 – 1803) - preast and politician, who took part in the assembly in Stockholm in argued in favor of free markets and against regulation and privileges, notably those enjoyed by the merchants of Stockholm, who had monopoly rights in many trades with foreign countries - succeeded in getting trading rights for some of the towns on the Bothnian coast and, above all, played an important role in getting the world’s first law that guaranteed free press (A.C. has occasionally been called the ”father of liberalism” in Sweden - he wrote a decade before Adam Smith and with the same message, but he was less systematic, he did not write a scientific treatise but polemic pamphlets, and he drew inspiration from a number of other precursors of Adam Smith (both in Sweden and elsewhere) - took also part in the debate about how Sweden should go back to silver (as unit of currency): at the going par value or at the preward parity (i.e. the parity before the ”Pommern war”)

2. Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806 – 81)
cont.
Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806 – 81)
- philosopher, writer, civil servant (”minister of finance”)…
- was quite familiar with the main classical economists but did not share their liberal values but was strongly influenced by Hegel, who viewed society and culture as something different than a group of individuals
- was influenced by Friedrich List (nationalism, infant industry protection)
- in practice, however, Snellman contributed to deregulation, notably of the rules restricting free movement and occupational choice of the labor force
- played a big role in getting Finland the silver markka (a currency of our own) and argued in that context for acceptance of the view that the silver markka be initiated in a way that was associated with a revaluation of the currency by some 20 per cent
- that revaluation turned out to have highly undesirable consequences in the context of exceptional famines and a wave of bankruptcies

3. What about Marx? Karl Marx
- the radical of all times who liked to turn conventional views upside down: property rights (not the guarantee of liberty but the basis of exploitation), historical materialism (not ideas creating reality but the other way around), the dialectic method (no equilibrium analysis but dynamics based on opposing forces and cumulative processes), liberty (not feasible in capitalism because of alienation) etc etc
One of the last ”system builders”, who is capable of sweeping perspectives and has been a source of inspiration for social scientists ever since
But drew erroneous conclusions from the first steps of capitalism: did not see the positive potential of competition, did not see the scope for labor to improve its lot through reform, based on its influence in the labor market and in democracy, did not see the possibility of the welfare state (though first steps were taken by Otto von Bismarck already at his time)
Wasted intellectual capital on the labor theory of value
Had no direct effects on economic policy thinking in advanced countries but did have indirect effects due to socialism and the cold war