Like most scholarly pursuit at the time, the formal development of economic thought generally developed within the
confines of the university. Though the Church had lost its
dominant grip on these institutions, the structure that emanated from its influence had not. Economic thought
developed from moral philosophy. Its focus was as much a
normative concern for what was right and good for society as
a positive concern for how economic activity functioned.
Those scholars who provided the services of formal inquiry
were “political economists.”