Saturday, December 18, 2004
The Saga of John Law and Richard Cantillon - Mises Institute
The Saga of John Law and Richard Cantillon - Mises Institute
Sean Corrigan details the careers, intersecting, of two men representing the ideal-types of the (market) entrepreneur and (I introduce the term) the political entrepreneur, John Law and Richard Cantillon. Law's story is one of a man who organized a system of inflation (monetary) for the benefit of himself and his land-speculation enterprises. Cantillon's is one of a man who speculated against the inflation business and won personal success.
Interesting note made that Law's reforms represented one benefit to the people (society) inasmuch as the introduction of money-substitutes into a society lacking them provided the means of indirect exchange a helpful and just boost. (Of course, Law's money soon took on the form of fiduciary media unbacked by real wealth, with the pernicious effects that ensue.)
Citing Cantillon (On the Nature of Commerce in General(?)), the reader is impressed with the essential difference between the man who secures his income through the state and the man who assumes more uncertainty than is even his lot in life:
"All the rest [than the former] are Entrepreneurs, whether they set up with a capital to conduct their enterprise, or are Entrepreneurs of their own labour without capital, and they may be regarded as living at uncertainty."
Link
Sean Corrigan details the careers, intersecting, of two men representing the ideal-types of the (market) entrepreneur and (I introduce the term) the political entrepreneur, John Law and Richard Cantillon. Law's story is one of a man who organized a system of inflation (monetary) for the benefit of himself and his land-speculation enterprises. Cantillon's is one of a man who speculated against the inflation business and won personal success.
Interesting note made that Law's reforms represented one benefit to the people (society) inasmuch as the introduction of money-substitutes into a society lacking them provided the means of indirect exchange a helpful and just boost. (Of course, Law's money soon took on the form of fiduciary media unbacked by real wealth, with the pernicious effects that ensue.)
Citing Cantillon (On the Nature of Commerce in General(?)), the reader is impressed with the essential difference between the man who secures his income through the state and the man who assumes more uncertainty than is even his lot in life:
"All the rest [than the former] are Entrepreneurs, whether they set up with a capital to conduct their enterprise, or are Entrepreneurs of their own labour without capital, and they may be regarded as living at uncertainty."
Comments:
Post a Comment
