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Monetary Theory Before Adam Smith, 4 Kitchener 2001 Batoche Books Kitchener, Ontario 2G2 2H2 Canada email: [email protected] Table of Contents. Preface. ................................................................................................................... 5 Part I: The Ancient World. ..................................................................................... 6 Chapter I: Introductory. .............................................................................. 6 Chapter II: Greece ...................................................................................... 6 Chapter III: Rome .................................................................................... 10 Chapter IV: Summary. ............................................................................. 11 Part II: The Middle Ages. ..................................................................................... 13 Chapter V: Introductory. .......................................................................... 13 Chapter VI: Building on Tradition. .......................................................... 15 Chapter VIII: Other New Problems ........................................................ 22 Chapter IX: Summary. ............................................................................. 28 Part III: The Beginnings of the Modern Age. ...................................................... 30 Chapter X: Introductory. .......................................................................... 30 Chapter XI: Traditional Doctrines. .......................................................... 32 Chapter XII: The Value of Money. .......................................................... 35 Chapter XIII: New Light on Old Problems. ............................................. 40 Chapter XIV: Summary. .......................................................................... 48 Part IV: From Davanzati to Locke. ...................................................................... 50 Chapter XV: Introductory. ....................................................................... 50 Chapter XVI: The Origin and Functions of Money. ................................ 53 Chapter XVII: Some Questions of Policy. ............................................... 55 Chapter XVIII: The Coinage System. ...................................................... 60 Chapter XIX: The Value of Money. ......................................................... 65 Chapter XX: The Theory of Price Changes. ............................................ 76 Chapter XXI: The Principles of Circulation. ........................................... 81 Chapter XXII: The Velocity of Circulation. ............................................ 88 Chapter XXIII: The Problem of Reform. ................................................. 90 Chapter XXIV: Summary. ....................................................................... 93 Part V: The Eighteenth Century. .......................................................................... 96 Chapter XXV: Introductory. .................................................................... 96 Chapter XXVI: The Origin and Functions of Money. ........................... 100 Chapter XXVII: Some Questions of Policy. .......................................... 108 Chapter XXVIII: The Coinage System. ................................................. 115 Arthur Eli Monroe, Monetary Theory Before Adam Smith, 4 Chapter XXIX: The Value of Money: Commodity Theories. ................ 128 Chapter XXX: The Value of Money: the Quantity Theory. ................... 138 Chapter XXXI: Price Changes: Analysis. .............................................. 146 Chapter XXXII: Price Changes: Effects. ............................................... 151 Chapter XXXIII: The Principles of Circulation. .................................... 160 Chapter XXXIV: The Velocity of Circulation. ...................................... 166 Chapter XXXV: The Problem of Reform. ............................................. 169 Chapter XXXVI: Summary. ................................................................... 174 Chapter XXXVII Conclusion: Money in Mercantile Thought. ............. 177 Bibliography. ...................................................................................................... 189 Notes. ................................................................................................................. 196 Preface. Few aspects of modern economic discussion have their roots so deeply in the past as the theory of money. Not only were most phases of it discussed before the time of Adam Smith, but some of our ideas concerning it may almost be called commonplaces since the beginning of the Modern Age. A knowledge of this material is, therefore, indispensable for a proper appreciation of the work of later writers. No survey of early monetary theory has been available in English, however, and no adequate one in other languages. This was brought home to me some years ago, when I was trying to evaluate the work of certain early American pamphleteers, and as a result I abandoned my original project and undertook the present study. As will be clear from the table of contents, this is a history of theories rather than of theorists or of their times. The ideas of each writer, instead of being presented as a whole, have been considered in connection with various convenient and significant subdivisions of the subject. This heightens the impression of continuity, facilitates the comparison of ideas, and brings out relations which might otherwise escape notice. Brief general estimates of the work of particular writers are given in the several introductory chapters. To spare the reader the tedium of repetition and diffuseness considerable rearranging of scattered ideas has been necessary, but care has been taken not to read anything into a writer that is not consistent with his work as a whole. References to general and monetary history have been kept at a minimum; for, although such information often helps to explain the interests, policies, and even the errors of the writers of different times and places, it does not affect the validity of their reasoning, and its elaboration serves only to distract attention. My thanks are due to Professor C. J. Bullock, who made invaluable suggestions at almost every stage of the work, and to Professors F. W. Taussig and A. A. Young, who read portions of the manuscript. A. E. M. Harvard University February, 1923 Part I: The Ancient World. Chapter I: Introductory. The broad characteristics of method and approach which we associate with the economic thought in general of classical antiquity1 are exemplified with but little modification by the monetary theories of that period. Separate treatises on the subject, in any modern sense of the term, were never attempted and probably never thought of; such scattered references as there were are found imbedded in works on ethics or politics, by some phase of which they were suggested, or in the discussions of the Roman jurists. Such a method of approach naturally tended to give to these discussions a distinctly ethical coloring, and to limit them to those aspects of the subject which seemed to be involved in the moral and political problems of mankind. Being written, moreover, by philosophers who felt, perhaps to some extent affected, a disdain for mean commercial interests, they were all the less likely to receive extended treatment. Centuries later a mercantile age made handsome amends for this early neglect, but not until the trying experiences of the Middle Ages had brought the importance of monetary problems painfully to the fore. In this, as in so many other fields of Greek thought, the name of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) is preeminent. In his crabbed and often obscure paragraphs are developed many important ideas on the subject of money — important not only because of the great insight which they reveal, but even more because of the profound influence which they have had on modern monetary theory through his devoted disciples, the Schoolmen. Plato’s (427– 347 B.C.) contributions were far less notable than those of his great pupil; and even the practical-minded Xenophon (445–355? B.C.) has left us little on this topic. The Romans added little to the analysis worked out by the Greeks. Like the Stoics and Epicureans, whom they followed, their philosophers had not much interest in economic questions, and the few points they noted refer more to archaeological than to social aspects of the subject. The principal interest of the discussions in the Corpus Juris lies in the influence they exerted in later times. Chapter II: Greece An explanation of the functions of money is a logical starting-point for theoretical discussions of this subject, and so we are not surprised to find the beginnings of such an analysis among Plato’s meagre references to the question of money. In the Republic he notes the need of money “as a symbol, for the sake of exchange”; and Arthur Eli Monroe, Monetary Theory Before Adam Smith, 7 in the Laws he remarks briefly that money “reduces the inequalities and immeasurabilities of goods to equality and measure.”2 Money, then, is a medium of exchange and a measure of value. It was the second of these points, apparently, which most impressed Aristotle; for we find it clearly brought out in his Ethics, while the first point, though plainly implied in his Politics, is not directly stated. In the Ethics he explains that, in order to ensure proportionate equality as justice requires, “such
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