The social encyclical Rerum Novarum closely links the question of poverty with that of property, and invokes Thomas Aquinas. But on closer examination, the reasoning developed in favour of property departs from the scholastic thinker, since it maintains more affinities with the liberal tradition...

This paper presents an alternative to both Sraffa’s and his critics’ interpretations of the nature of Ricardo’s search for an ‘invariable measure of value’. It points out that Ricardo recognised two causes of change in the relative values of commodities: (i) changes in the labour...

The analysis here aims to explain Smith’s and Condorcet’s ideas about public education, stemming from their common adhesion to the principles of the “Liberalism of Liberty”. Their Liberalism makes public intervention necessary for education, so as to ensure the equality of natural rights...

The population matter in Jean-Baptiste Say’s work is not a subject traditionally covered by secondary literature. The limited existing works, which consist of general studies on the question, only refer to some theoretical elements of Say’s theory. No approach actually examines how Say’s...

Destutt de Tracy’s value theory is examined here in its relations to labor. This theory is original in that it has two concepts of value, one being natural, the other, conventional. Both are linked to labor, deemed to be any productive activity and the sole origin of any production, but in two...

This article examines the diverse aspects of the “conversion” of J. C. L. Simonde of Sismondi, in 1817 with the Political Economy. The moment and the contents of the conversion of Sismondi present two kinds of difficulties of interpretation. The first one concerns the role which plays the...

This article shows the influence of Turgot over Gustave de Molinari's studies in efficient allocation of productive means in a decentralized markets economy. From Turgot's works on spatial organization of markets's grain as an answer to the spatial information problem, Molinari makes deeper the...

Ricardo's model of capital accumulation is studied on the basis of his distinction between natural and accidental causes that are associated with permanent and temporary effects. The consequence is that, from the two contemporary interpretations of this model: theses of Hollander and Peach, only...

The paper compares the two monetary plans designed by Ricardo: the Ingot Plan of 1816, centred on the convertibility of Bank of England notes in bullion, and the Plan for a National Bank of 1823, which substitutes a public bank for the Bank of England as sole institution for issuing notes. Two...

At a distance of nearly two centuries since it broke out, the Bullion Controversy is still an endless source of questions and interpretations. The most recent contributions to the debate have focussed mainly on two points. The first is the position taken by one of most eminent participants in...