David Hume

Of Money, and Other Economic Essays Illustrated David Hume

David Hume is known for his philosophical writings, but he also wrote on politics, history, and economics. This eBook contains 7 economic essays which were first published in Hume's Political Discourses (1752) and republished in Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, Volume 1 (1758, 1777). One essay has been praised by the Nobel-Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, who said in his newspaper column:

"... Hume also helped found economics: his 'Of the Balance of Trade', published 34 years before The Wealth of Nations, was arguably the first example of modern economic reasoning, based on what amounts to a stylized model, albeit one without any equations or diagrams." (New York Times, 8 May 2011, "Hume Day".) ... "You could argue that modern economics really began with David Hume's 'Of the Balance of Trade', whose core is a gloriously clear thought experiment...." (ibid., 2 Feb 2011, "Models, Plain and Fancy".)