Noting that it is Thornton, not Ricardo, who is the originator of the classical analysis of the gold points mechanism, this paper shows that Ricardo rejected this mechanism. This is done by considering his criticism of the causal link between deficits, the exchange rate and the price of gold....

The fertility of Adam Smith’s work stems from a paradoxical structure where the pursuit of economic self-interest and wealth accumulation serve wider social objectives. The incentive for this wealth accumulation comes from a desire for social recognition or "sympathy" – the need to recognise...

The methods England took to restructure its public debt during the British Financial Revolution consisted of improving liquidity. Accordingly, the State sought to reestablish its solvability by basing its debt on tax revenues as well as to homogenize it, reduce its cost and improve the operation...

Approval of the quantity theory, of the Humean price-specie-flow mechanism (PSFM) and of lender of last resort analysis are characteristics of British monetary orthodoxy in the 1870s. But this does not mean that this orthodoxy achieved a synthesis between the Banking School and the Currency...