Harmony and the Balance: An Intellectual History of Seventeenth-Century English Economic Thought

392 Pages·2000·1.782 MB·English

by  Andrea Lynne Finkelstein

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Harmony and the Balance

Harmony and the Balance
An Intellectual History of
Seventeenth-Century
English Economic Thought
Andrea Finkelstein
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2000
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
cPrinted on acid-free paper
2003 2002 2001 2000 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form
or by any means,electronic,mechanical,or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Finkelstein,Andrea,1949–
Harmony and the balance :an intellectual history of
seventeenth-century English economic thought / Andrea Finkelstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-472-11143-4
1.Economics—England—History—17th century. I.Title.
HB103 b.F56 2000
330'.0942'09032—dc21 99-050841
ISBN13 978-0-472-11143-5 (cloth)
ISBN13 978-0-472-02384-4 (electronic)
For David

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part 1.Geistvs.Weltanschauung
1. Merchants and the Body Politic 15
2. Gerard de Malynes:
Institutio Mercatoris Christiani 26
3. Edward Misselden and the
“Natural Freedom”of Trade 54
4. Thomas Mun and the Finite Zeitgeist 74
5. Harmony and the “Balance of Trade” 89
Part 2.The New Model Economics
6. Mechanically Minded 101
7. The Number,Weight,and
Measure of Sir William Petty 107
8. Sir Josiah Child:What Price Money? 130
9. John Locke:Nineteen Shillings
do not a Pound make 147
10. Accounting for Economics 171
Part 3.Balance vs.Equilibrium
11. In the Balance 179
12. Sir Dudley North:Merchants and Markets 186
13. Nicholas Barbon and the Quality of In‹nity 205
14. Charles Davenant and the Brave New World 219
viii Contents
Conclusion 247
Notes 267
Bibliography 345
Index 365
Acknowledgments
The genealogy of a ‹rst book is complex and thus the list of those to be
thanked long:the family and friends who ran our errands when we disap-
peared into the stacks for weeks on end, the colleagues who covered our
classes,the professors who inspired,corrected,and cajoled,and the depart-
mental secretary who got our committees to the defense on time.To my
parents,then,because they were my ‹rst teachers of bookkeeping and bud-
geting.To Messrs.Bass,Friedman,Allen,Monaghan,Seiden,and Stempel
who taught me the ins and outs of business, and to the gentlemen at
Rosenfeld, Hauptman and Shields, who were never too busy to teach a
bookkeeper just a little more accounting.To Professors Trainor,Harris,and
Greene at New York University (SCE) who believed economics was essen-
tial. To Professor Rogers who taught me to look beyond disciplinary
boundaries.To Professors James R.Jacob,Bernard Semmel,and Stuart E.
Prall at the Graduate Center (CUNY),who made a historian out of me,
sometimes even against my will. To Mrs. Betty Einerman, for treating
graduate students with tender,loving care.To Ms.Francine Kapchan,Ms.
Marilyn Harris,and Professors Frank Warren and Martin Pine at Queens
College (CUNY) who also believed adjuncts were human beings.To all my
colleagues at Bronx Community College (CUNY),but especially to Pro-
fessor James D.Ryan,Professor Jacqueline Gutwirth,Mrs.Paulette Ran-
dall, and Mrs. Regine Cajuste for seeing me through.To my family, my
friends, my students, and Miss Edelman who began it all, I say, with
thanks,the mistakes are mine,the credit is thine.