An Essay on Economic Theory

2010-11-22T16:47:17Z

Thornton: Created page with "Richard Cantillon wrote his ''Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général'' around 1730. It was published in 1755 and was the key document for the Physiocrats, Turgot and Condil..."

Richard Cantillon wrote his ''Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général'' 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 the Hayeks translated it into German. ''[http://mises.org/books/Essay_on_economic_theory_cantillon.pdfAn Essay on Economic Theory]'' is a new English translation by Chantal Saucier and Mark Thornton published in 2010. 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

*Forward by Robert F. Hébert 5

*Introduction by Chantal Saucier and Mark Thornton 13

#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
#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
#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

==External links==

Jeffrey Tucker [http://mises.org/media/5351] Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and editor of the new translation of Richard Cantillon's 1755 masterpiece, ''An Essay on Economic Theory''. Recorded 27 August 2010. [29:17]

The Economics of Prohibition

2010-11-17T17:40:02Z

Thornton: Started page, added contents and link to pdf

''[http://mises.org/books/prohibition.pdfThe Economics of Prohibition]'' was written by Mark Thornton and published by the University of Utah Press in 1991. The Economics of Prohibition, was praised by Murray Rothbard, who declared: "Thornton's book... arrives to fill an enormous gap, and it does so splendidly.... The drug prohibition question is... the hottest political topic today, and for the foreseeable future.... This is an excellent work making an important contribution to scholarship as well as to the public policy debate." Bruce Benson declared the book to be "a very insightful work that makes what I am sure will be recognized as significant contributions to the economics literature on crime, policy analysis, and illicit drugs."

==Contents==

Foreword by Doug Bandow vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

1. ECONOMISTS AND PROHIBITION 9

The Origins of the "Economics" of Prohibition 11

In Defense of Prohibition 15

Prohibition's Blue Monday 23

The Economics of Heroin Prohibition 29

The Economics of Addiction 35

'''2. THE ORIGINS OF PROHIBITION 39'''

The Prohibition of Alcohol 40

National Narcotics Prohibition 56

National Marijuana Prohibition 65

'''3. A THEORY OF PROHIBITION 71'''

The Basic Analytics of Prohibition 73

The Political Economy of Prohibition 84

'''4. THE POTENCY OF ILLEGAL DRUGS 89'''

The Economics of Potency 92

Prohibition as a Tax 93

The Impact of Prohibition on Potency 95

Potency in Prohibited Markets 99

Alcohol Prohibition 100

The Prohibition of Marijuana: A Simple Test 105

Beyond Cannabis 108

VI

'''5. THE CORRUPTING EFFECTS OF PROHIBITION 111'''

Crime 113

Corruption 126

'''6. THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION 139
'''
Is Effective Prohibition Possible? 142

Alternative Policy Regimes 146

The Free-Market Solution 149

The Extended Free-Market Solution 151

'''References 155'''

Index 167

'''FIGURES'''

1. Prohibition's Impact on the Consumer and Producer 74

2. The Traditional Approach for Determining the Optimal Level of
Prohibition Enforcement 76

3. The Process of Progressive Interventionism (and exit) 84

4. Effect of Improved Technology for High-Potency Drug
Production 92

5. Federal Budget for Enforcement of Drug Laws,
1973-1984 106

6. Average Potency of Marijuana, 1973-1984 108

7. The Impact of Prohibition on the Consumption of
Heroin 118

8. Prohibition's Impact on the Heroin Addict's Budget
Constraint 118

9. Prohibition's Impact on (addict-related) Criminal Activity 119

10. Federal Convictions of Public Officials, 1970-1988 128

'''TABLES'''

1. Absenteeism Rates in a Delaware Gunpowder Plant 26

2. Average Annual Percentage-Point Decline in Absenteeism in a
Delaware Gunpowder Plant 29

3. Shipping the Good Apples to New York 94

4. Federal Expenditures upon the Enforcement of
Prohibition 100

5. Fisher's "Alcohol Price Index," 1916-1928 102

6. The Effect of Prohibition on Alcohol Expenditures 103

7. Per Capita Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages in
Gallons,1840-1919 104

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An Essay on Economic Theory

The Economics of Prohibition