Classical political economists introduce notions which are very useful in contemporary developmental debates. All these authors focus on the production and distribution of national wealth, but they are clear that there is a close relationship between economic and political power. Foreign trade is the source of wealth for the Mercantilists and the states should favor a surplus in the balance of trade. Land and labor occupy the center of the stage with Petty and Quesnay; the latter describes a system of economic reproduction and highlights the role of an agricultural surplus. The emphasis on human rights and Montesquieu’s separation of powers are important contributions of the Enlightenment. Smith provides an innovative answer to the question of how to increase national wealth: improvements in labor productivity, which depends upon the division of labor and in turn from the accumulation of capital. Manufacturing activities become the crucial sectors of an economy. Smith and Ricardo attack Mercantilist doctrines, but their support for free trade is above all meant to avoid the formation of oligopolistic markets and to sustain economic growth. Marx shows that a capitalist economy is likely to have recurring crises which generate a long-run tendency to a decrease in the profit rate. The classical economists underline the difference between use and exchange values in the process of economic and social reproduction; this is a fundamental distinction for progress toward sustainable development.