PhilPaine.com

If you are under the impres­sion, as many are, that eco­nom­ic thought begins with Adam Smith, then this book will act as a cor­rec­tive. Hen­ry C. Clark out­lines the chang­ing themes in the dis­cus­sion of trade that took place in France dur­ing the 17th and 18th cen­turies, as well as the Eng­lish and Dutch works that they react­ed to. What strikes me is that most of the issues being dis­cussed are much the same as the ones being debat­ed today, and most of the same ideas are sim­i­lar. Adam Smith, in 1776, was not begin­ning a new dis­ci­pline, but pro­duc­ing a selec­tive syn­the­sis of a long-exist­ing and com­plex one. Along the way to The Wealth of Nations, there was a long list of impor­tant and inter­est­ing peo­ple com­ment­ing on the nature of trade, mon­ey, and the prop­er roles of the state and the indi­vid­ual in com­merce. Among them was the rec­og­niz­able, but con­sis­tent­ly under-esti­mat­ed Mon­tesquieu. But there were many oth­er, for­got­ten thinkers worth pay­ing atten­tion to.