There has been a significant degree of financial restructuring over the last few decades, which has prompted a rethinking of the first principles of monetary economics. The focus here is on how four specifications of these principles address such issues as the need for central banks and the...

J. M. Keynes discussed the ideas of The General Theory at length with R. G. Hawtrey and D. H. Robertson. In their correspon dence, the notion of idle (or inactive) balances figures prominently. Each had a different understanding of what idle balances were and wh at their significance was. This...

Scottish banking experience in the period 1695-1845 is frequently used in support of arguments in favor of free banking. The purpose of this article is to assess whether this experience can be treated as a case study in free banking and whether the experience does support the free-banking...

Political economy is attracting renewed interest, given the crisis in orthodox economics. This artic le focuses on the Scottish tradition in political economy, which took its character from the style of reasoning engendered by the Enlighte nment, and the issues, moral and practical, to which...