Preclassical Monetary Theories (Graduate Institute of International Studies Series)

This book presents a survey of ideas about money which led up to those presented by the great classical economists. The scene is set with a description of the monetary system in France before the Revolution. The debate about the quantity theory of money in France and Spain, leading up to its integration into economic theory and David Hume's contribution, precedes a chapter on the Banking Theory and the controversy about it conducted by Dutot, Melon, Cantillon, John Law and finally Adam Smith. This volume collates and synthesizes information only previously available in a scattered form in French and English.