NEW CLASSICAL ECONOMICS: A body of economic thought emerging in the last quarter of the 20th century based on greater reliance on voluntary market exchanges, a laissez faire approach to government policies, and recognition of the supply-side of the economy. New classical economics, as the name implies, is a rejuvenation of classical economics that dominated economic thought from the 1770s to the 1930s and was developed to counter Keynesian economics that was prevalent from the 1930s to the 1970s. See also | classical economics | Keynesian economics | supply-side economics | conservative | liberal | classical aggregate supply curve | laissez faire | voluntary exchange |