Subject and purpose of work: The work presents the emergence and shaping of basic economic issues since the dawn of human economic activity. Contemporary views on important economic issues have their roots in antiquity. The shaping of concepts such as money, interest, contract, credit as a part of the law, began a long time ago and exerted an influence on the way they are understood today. Materials and methods: The basis for the considerations is the study of literature on the history of the development of economics and the science of management in economic, philosophical and ethical aspects. The work has shown the non-linear nature of the development of new phenomena emerging in volatile political, technical, religious and moral conditions, which are largely spontaneous, and a reciprocal overlap of various fields of knowledge in a general and individual sense. Particular discoverers were found to present a wide spectrum of interests. Results: Historically, the development of economic knowledge began with the issues from the border of economics and management, from microeconomics (household) to macroeconomics (money); little information concerns large undertakings such as irrigation systems, pyramids or waging wars. Conclusions: Generally speaking - monarchs’ edicts came before the deliberations of thinkers, concrete reasoning came before abstract considerations.