An Essay on Economic Theory

Richard Cantillon's Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général (published in English as An Essay on Economic Theory) was written around 1730. It was published in 1755 and was the key document for the Physiocrats, Turgot and Condillac. It was also an important influence on David Hume and Adam Smith. William Stanley Jevons rediscovered Cantillon and wrote in 1881 that Cantillon's Essai was the true "cradle of political economy." Henry Higgs translated the Essai into English in 1931 the same year that Friedrich Hayek and his wife translated it into German. A new English translation by Chantal Saucier and Mark Thornton was published in 2010 (An Essay on Economic Theory). In addition to thorough modernization and improvement of the Higgs translation, this translation also provides chapter abstracts, definitions and explanatory footnotes, and an index.

Contents

 * Foreword by Robert F. Hébert 5


 * Introduction by Chantal Saucier and Mark Thornton 13


 * 1) Part One: Production, Distribution, and Consumption
 * Chapter One: Wealth 21
 * Chapter Two: Human Societies 23
 * Chapter Three: Villages 27
 * Chapter Four: Market Towns 31
 * Chapter Five: Cities 35
 * Chapter Six: Capital Cities 39
 * Chapter Seven: The Labor of the Plowman is of less Value than that of the Artisan 41
 * Chapter Eight: Some Artisans earn more, others less, according to the different Cases and Circumstances 45
 * Chapter Nine: The Number of Laborers, Artisans and others, who work in a State is naturally proportioned to the Demand for them 49
 * Chapter Ten: The Price and Intrinsic Value of a Thing in general is the measure of the Land and Labor which enter into its Production 53
 * Chapter Eleven: The Par or Relation between the Value of Land and Labor 59
 * Chapter Twelve: All Classes and Individuals in a State subsist or are enriched at the Expense of the Proprietors of Land 69
 * Chapter Thirteen: The Circulation and Exchange of Goods and Merchandise as well as their Production are carried on in Europe by Entrepreneurs, and at a risk 73
 * Chapter Fourteen: The Desires, Fashions, and the Ways of Life of the Prince, and especially of the Property Owners, determine the Use to which Land is put in a State and Cause the Variations in the Market Prices of all Things 79
 * Chapter Fifteen: The Increase and Decrease of the Number of People in a State chiefly Depends on the Taste, the Fashions, and the Ways of Life Property Owners 85
 * Chapter Sixteen: The more Labor there is in a State the more the State is judged naturally rich 97
 * Chapter Seventeen: Metals and Money, and especially of Gold and Silver 103
 * 1) Part Two: Money and Interest
 * Chapter One: Barter 115
 * Chapter Two: Market Prices 119
 * Chapter Three: The Circulation of Money 123
 * Chapter Four: Further Reflection on the Rapidity or Slowness of the Circulation of Money in Exchange 133
 * Chapter Five: The inequality of the circulation of hard money in a State 139
 * Chapter Six: The increase and decrease in the quantity of hard money in a State 147
 * Chapter Seven: Continuation of the same subject 155
 * Chapter Eight: Further Reflection on the same subject 159
 * Chapter Nine: The Interest of Money and its Causes 169
 * Chapter Ten: The Causes of the Increase and Decrease of the Interest of Money in a State 177
 * 1) Part Three: International Trade and Business Cycles
 * Chapter One: Foreign Trade 185
 * Chapter Two: The Nature of Exchange Rates 195
 * Chapter Three: Further explanations of the Nature of Exchange Rates 203
 * Chapter Four: The variations in the proportion of values with regard to the Metals which serve as Money 209
 * Chapter Five: The augmentation and diminution of coin in denomination 219
 * Chapter Six: Banks and their Credit 227
 * Chapter Seven: Further explanations and enquiries as to the utility of a National Bank 233
 * Chapter Eight: Refinements of Credit of General Banks 241

Links

 * Interview by Jeffrey Tucker of Mark Thornton (27 August 2010)