Early Economic Thought

Selected Writings from Aristotle to Hume

A vital and varied survey of economic theory in the pre-modern era, this well-chosen collection includes extracts from the works of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Antonio Serra, David Hume, and twelve other extraordinary thinkers. Their writings in this volume illustrate the ways in which great thinkers of the past sought to argue for and explain the moral, ethical, monetary, and political dimensions of trade and exchange.
Translated and annotated by noted Harvard educator Arthur Eli Monroe, these writings offer invaluable background to students of modern economic theory. Sufficiently varied to reflect the wealth of available material, they include highlights from Aristotle's Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica, Thomas Mun's England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, and David Hume's Political Discourses. Helpful biographical notes appear at the start of each author's work.