Description
Book SynopsisThis is a study of Irish-born Richard Cantillon, eighteenth century banker and economist whose Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General (1755), published twenty-one years after his death, remains a significant contribution to the development of monetary theory. Cantillon''s life was an exciting story of involvement in high-level international banking, and speculation in foreign exchanges, commodities and stocks at the time of the South Sea Bubble. His death occurred in mysterious circumstances.
Trade ReviewIt is a remarkable story, and the complexities of Cantillon's affairs are unravelled by Antoin Murphy with marvellous lucidity. Read it as an account of high finance in an age when financial sophistication was galloping ahead of the appropriate codes of business ethics. It must surely establish Cantillon's biographer as a master of this difficult genre of historical writing. * Business History *
This is a fascinating piece of historical detective work. Anyone who is interested in the mercantile, monetary and financial history of the period, should read this study which corrects many of the simplistic notions that enjoy academic currency. * Michael S. Moss, University of Glasgow *
Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Richard Cantillon's Background 3: Cantillon's Early Career 4: Cantillon's Début as a Banker in Paris, 1714-17 5: John Law and Richard Cantillon: The First Mississippi Fortune-Phase One 6: Bernard Cantillon's Expedition to Louisiana, 1719 7: Lady Mary Herbert and Joseph Gage: Two of the Great Speculators of the Age 8: The Mississippi System-Phase Two 9: London and Amsterdam: The Great Crashes in these Cities in 1720 10: The Rich Mississippian and his Wife Mary Anne 11: Debt Collection and its Legal Consequences 12: The Strange Accusations of Christopher Balfe 13: The Writing and Contents of the Essai sur la nature du commerce en général 14: The Demise of Richard Cantillon 15: The Publication of the Essai in 1755 Concluding Note
