This paper surveys the literature of the Bullionist controversy which dominated the development of Classical monetary economics between 1797 and the early 1820s. It highlights the contributions of Henry Thornton to the early phase of the debate, particularly his refutation of the Real Bill...

New institutional economics lacks a theory of state formation which could help us to deal with the mega question of why some states became more efficient than others at establishing and and sustaining institutions. Some kind of middle range theory could be formulated based upon historical case...

Problems of perspective : the myth of free trade Britain and fortress France -- The history of British economic policy -- The unbearable lightness of drink : assessing the effects of British tariffs on French wine -- The beginnings : trade and the struggle for European power in the late 1600s --...