Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Abstract
Monetary policy is a modern idea of which David Hume is generally considered a precursor. Moreover, thanks to Milton Friedman and Robert Lucas, he is often presented as one of the first and most illustrious endorser of monetarism. This paper argues against this view, and in agreement with Joseph Schumpeter, that Hume’s contribution to economics, while not insignificant, cannot claim any real novelties. It offers an interpretation of Hume as a descendant of a pre-modern understanding of money rather than a forerunner of modern monetary ideas, and as a scholar exposing common ideas of his time rather than a prophet of economic theories developed centuries later, and argues that there is little in Hume that resembles today’s monetary policy prescriptions.
DOI
10.3366/E147966510800033X
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
City
Edinburgh
Repository Citation
Paganelli, M. P. (2009). David Hume on monetary policy: A retrospective approach. Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 7(1), 65-85. https://doi.org/10.3366/E147966510800033X
Publication Information
Journal of Scottish Philosopy