Ricardo on Money Despite his achievements, David Ricardo’s views on money have often been misunderstood and underappreciated. His advanced ideas had to wait until the twentieth century to be applied, and most historians of economic thought continue to consider him as an obsolete orthodox. The last book devoted in tribute to Ricardo as a monetary economist was published more than 25 years ago. Ricardo on Money encompasses the whole of Ricardo’s writings on currency, whether in print, unpublished notes, correspondence, or reported parliamentary speeches and evidence. The aim of the book is at rehabilitating Ricardo as an unorthodox theorist on money and suggesting his relevance for modern analysis. It is divided into three parts: history, theory and policy. The first describes the factual and intellectual context of Ricardo’s monetary writings. The second part puts the concept of standard centre stage and clarifies how, according to Ricardo, the standard regulated the quantity – and hence the value – of money. The final part shows that Ricardo relied on the active management of paper money rather than on flows of bullion and commodities to produce international adjustment and guarantee the security of the monetary system. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation, this book will be of great interest to all historians of economic thought and scholars of monetary economics. Ghislain Deleplace is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University Paris 8 at Saint-Denis, France. His fields of research are the history of monetary thought (Steuart, Ricardo, Marx, Keynes, Sraffa), the history of the international monetary system (sixteenth century, nineteenth century), and the post-Keynesian theory of money. Routledge Studies in the History of Economics For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/SE0341 187 The Political Economy of Latin American Independence Edited by Alexandre Mendes Cunha and Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak 188 Jean-Baptiste Say and Political Economy Jean-Baptiste Say Gilles Jacoud 189 Economists and War A heterodox perspective Edited by Fabrizio Bientinesi and Rosario Patalano 190 Great Economic Thinkers from the Classicals to the Moderns Translations from the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie Bertram Schefold 191 Business Cycles in Economic Thought A History Edited by Alain Alcouffe, Monika Poettinger and Bertram Schefold 192 Economics, Ethics, and Ancient Thought Towards a Virtuous Public Policy Donald G. Richards 193 Ricardo on Money A Reappraisal Ghislain Deleplace Ricardo on Money A Reappraisal Ghislain Deleplace First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Ghislain Deleplace The right of Ghislain Deleplace to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Deleplace, Ghislain, author. Title: Ricardo on money : a reappraisal / Ghislain Deleplace. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. Identifiers: LCCN 2016048743| ISBN 9780415661584 (hardback) ISBN 9781315207872 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Ricardo, David, 1772-1823. | Money. | Monetary policy. Classification: LCC HB103.R5 D45 2017 | DDC 332.401--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048743 ISBN: 978-0-41566158-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-31520787-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK To the memory of Charles (1921–2012) and Simonne (1921–2015) Deleplace To Nathalie, Aurélien, Raphaël Ricardo’s Memorial in Hardenhuish churchyard