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John Law: Ökonom Und Visionär
John Law (1671 - 1729) left a remarkable legacy of economic concepts from a time when economic conceptualization was very much at an embryonic stage. Yet he is best known-and generally dismissed-today as a rake, duellist, and gambler. This intellectual biography offers a new approach to Law, one that shows him to have been a significant economic theorist with a vision that he attempted to implement as policy in early-eighteenth-century Europe.
Law's style, marked by a clarity and use of modern terminology, stands out starkly against the turgid prose of many of his contemporaries. His vision of a monetary and financial system was certainly one of a later age, for Law believed in an economy of banknotes and credit where specie had no role to play. Ultimately Law failed as a policy-maker, in part because of the entrenchment of the financiers and their aristocratic backers and in part because of theoretical flaws in his vision. His struggle for power took place against the background of Europe's first major stock boom and collapse. The collapse of the Mississippi System, which he had conceived, and the South Sea Bubble led to a lasting impression of Law as a failure. It is this impression that Antoin Murphy seeks to dispel.
Law's style, marked by a clarity and use of modern terminology, stands out starkly against the turgid prose of many of his contemporaries. His vision of a monetary and financial system was certainly one of a later age, for Law believed in an economy of banknotes and credit where specie had no role to play. Ultimately Law failed as a policy-maker, in part because of the entrenchment of the financiers and their aristocratic backers and in part because of theoretical flaws in his vision. His struggle for power took place against the background of Europe's first major stock boom and collapse. The collapse of the Mississippi System, which he had conceived, and the South Sea Bubble led to a lasting impression of Law as a failure. It is this impression that Antoin Murphy seeks to dispel.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published June 26, 1997
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March 7, 2017
Not an easy book to read
I have been doing research on John Law. I found an extremely good book from Janet Gleeson, but I was curious about the mind numbing numbers which roiled France during the period of the Regency. There is an uncanny resemblance and similarity to what has just happened. In fact you can replace the names that are in the book with current personalities. That said, Mr. Murphy is exceptional. However, Mr. Murphy spends a great deal of time trying to convince you that John Law was not a gambler at the beginning of the book but apparently gives up as John Law is often described throughout as a gambler. Then Mr Murphy excoriated a number of authors as being incorrect but uses their books and research extensively. He goes on a rampage about someone who translated something incorrectly- which was not even though I might have tried to use a different word. But Mr Murphy quotes work using the word "Francs" which did not appear until after the revolution. Now, that was a grave error in translation. Nonetheless I was looking for numbers and found them. Onto the next book by Edgar Faure that Mr Murphy does not like. It should be interesting to find what a former French socialist minister has to say. Sorry this book is only available in French.
I have been doing research on John Law. I found an extremely good book from Janet Gleeson, but I was curious about the mind numbing numbers which roiled France during the period of the Regency. There is an uncanny resemblance and similarity to what has just happened. In fact you can replace the names that are in the book with current personalities. That said, Mr. Murphy is exceptional. However, Mr. Murphy spends a great deal of time trying to convince you that John Law was not a gambler at the beginning of the book but apparently gives up as John Law is often described throughout as a gambler. Then Mr Murphy excoriated a number of authors as being incorrect but uses their books and research extensively. He goes on a rampage about someone who translated something incorrectly- which was not even though I might have tried to use a different word. But Mr Murphy quotes work using the word "Francs" which did not appear until after the revolution. Now, that was a grave error in translation. Nonetheless I was looking for numbers and found them. Onto the next book by Edgar Faure that Mr Murphy does not like. It should be interesting to find what a former French socialist minister has to say. Sorry this book is only available in French.
Displaying 1 of 1 review