trust. It saw innovations such as trading companies, big businesses, contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international trade, the first forms of partnership (mufawada) such as limited partnerships (mudaraba), and the earliest forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital (al-mal), capital accumulation (nama al-mal), circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue, cheques, promissory notes, trusts (see Waqf), startup companies, savings accounts, transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers, money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry bookkeeping system, lawsuits, and agency institution. This school has seen a revived interest in development and understanding since the later part of the 20th century. Muhammad Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man Abu Yusuf Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) Shams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir (Qabus) Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Ibn Miskawayh Al-Ghazali (Algazel) Ibn Taymiyyah Al-Mawardi Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (Tusi) Ibn Khaldun Al-Maqrizi Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr Scholasticism Nicole Oresme Thomas Aquinas School of Salamanca Leonardus Lessius Mercantilism Economic policy in Europe during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance treated economic activity as a good which was to be taxed to raise revenues for the nobility and the church. Economic exchanges were regulated by feudal rights, such as the right to collect a toll or hold a fair, as well as guild restrictions and religious restrictions on lending. Economic policy, such as it was, was designed to encourage trade through a particular area. Because of the importance of social class, sumptuary laws were enacted, regulating dress and housing, including allowable styles, materials and frequency of purchase for different classes. Niccolò Machiavelli in his book The Prince was one of the first authors to theorize economic policy in the form of advice. He did so by stating that princes and republics should limit their expenditures and prevent either the wealthy or the populace from despoiling the other. In this way a state would be seen as "generous" because it was not a heavy burden on its citizens. Gerard de Malynes Edward Misselden Thomas Mun Jean Bodin Jean Baptiste Colbert Josiah Child William Petty John Locke Charles Davenant Dudley North Ferdinando Galiani James Denham-Steuart Physiocrats The Physiocrats were 18th century French economists who emphasized the importance of productive work, and particularly agriculture, to an economy's wealth. Their early support of free trade and deregulation influenced Adam Smith and the classical economists. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot François Quesnay Pierre le Pesant de Boisguilbert Richard Cantillon Classical political economy Classical economics, also called classical political economy, was the