Abstract
Many scholars have noted the similarity between the controversy entered upon by Gerard Malynes, Edward Misselden, and Thomas Mun in England in the early 1620s and the debate that only few years earlier had flared up between two economists active in the Kingdom of Naples: Marc’Antonio de Santis and Antonio Serra, to whom, as I will argue in this paper, we should add Giovanni Donato Turbolo.1 However, still lacking in the literature is a systematic comparative study of the arguments that these writers developed on the common subject of their disputes, namely the causes of, as well as the remedies for, the massive specie outflows then plaguing their countries. This paper contributes to fill this gap, in the belief that such comparison may be rewarding for the following reasons.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
See Schumpeter, J.A., History of Economic Analysis, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954, p. 355
Rosselli, A., “Early Views on Monetary Policy: The Neapolitan Debate on the Theory of Exchange”, History of Political Economy, 32(1), 2000, pp. 61–62
Reinert, E.S. and S.A. Reinert, “An Early National Innovation System: The Case of Antonio Serra’s 1613 Breve Trattato”, Institutions and Economic Development/Istituzioni e Sviluppo Economico, 1, 3, 2003, pp. 87–119
Roncaglia, A., The Wealth of Ideas: A History of Economic Thoug ht, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Turbolo, G.D., Discorso della differenza e inegualità delle monete del Regno di Napoli, con l’altre monete di potentati convicini, e della causa della penuria di esse, Naples: Tarquinio Longo, 1616,
as reprinted in R. Colapietra (ed.), Problemi monetari negli scrittori napoletani del Seicento, Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1973, pp. 289–297 and
Angell, J.W., The Theory of International Prices. History, Criticism and Restatement, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926, pp. 10–11.
Reinert, S.A., Translating Empire: Emulation and the Origins of Political Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Robertson, J., “The Enlightenment above National Context: Political Economy in Eighteenth Century Scotland and Naples”, The Historical Journal, 40, 3, 1997, pp. 667–697.
de Santis, M.A., (1605a), Discorso di Marc’Antonio De Santis intorno alli effetti che fa il cambio in Regno, Naples: appresso Costantino Vitale, 1605
Malynes, G., The Maintenance of Free Trade, London: by I.L. for William Sheffard, 1622; reprint New York, NY: Kelley, 1971
Malynes, G., The Center of the Circle of Commerce, London: William Iones, 1623; reprint Clifton, N.J: 1973.
Misselden, E., Free Trade, or the Means to make Trade flourish, London: printed by Iohn Legatt for Simon Waterson, 1622; reprint New York, NY: Kelley, 1971
Misselden, E., The Circle of Commerce or the Balance of Trade, in Defence of Free Trade, London: printed by Iohn Dawson for Nicholas Bourne, 1623; reprint New York, NY: Kelley, 1971
Mun, T., A Discourse of Trade: From England unto the East-Indies, Answering to Diverse Objections which are Usually Made against the Same, London: printed by Nicholas Okes for Iohn Pyper, 1621; reprint New York, NY: Kelley, 1971
Serra, A., Breve trattato delle cause che possono far abbondare li regni d’oro e d’argento dove non sono miniere, Naples: Appresso Lazzaro Scoriggio, 1613,
as reprinted and as translated by J. Hunt, in A. Serra, A Short Treatise on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations, bilingual edition, ed. by S.A. Reinert, London-New York, NY-Delhi: Anthem Press, 2011.
Muldrew, C., The Economy of Obligation: The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998, p. 100.
For the English context, see among others Johnson, E.A.J., “Gerard De Malynes and the Theory of the Foreign Exchanges”, American Economic Review, 23, 3, 1933, pp. 441–455
Gould, J.D., “The Trade Crisis of the Early 1620’s and English Economic Thought”, Journal of Economic History, 15, 2, 1955, pp. 121–133
Muchmore, L., “Gerrard de Malynes and Mercantile Economics”, History of Political Economy, 1, 2, 1969, pp. 336–358 and
Muchmore, L. “A Note on Thomas Mun’s ‘England’s Treasure by forraign Trade’”, The Economic History Review, New Series, 23, 3, 1970, pp. 498–503
Gomes, L., Foreign Trade and the National Economy. Mercantilist and Classical Perspectives, Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1987
Wennerlind, C., Casualties of Credit: the English Financial Revolution 1620–172 0, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
For the Neapolitan side, see Fornari, T., Studi sopra Antonio Serra e Marc’Antonio De Santis, Pavia, Fratelli Fusi, 1879; Colapietra (1973)
De Rosa, L., I cambi esteri del Regno di Napoli dal 1591 al 1707, Naples: Biblioteca dell’Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, 1955
De Rosa, L., Il Mezzogiorno spagnolo tra crescita e decadenza, Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1987
Calabria, A., The Cost of Empire. The Finances of the Kingdom of Naples in the Time of the Spanish Rule, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991
Galasso, G., Alla periferia dell’impero. Il Regno di Napoli nel periodo spagnolo (secoli XVI–XVII), Turin: Einaudi, 1994
Villari, R. (2014), Un sogno di libertà. Napoli nel declino di un impero. 1585–1648, Milan: Mondadori, 2014.
For the international financial context, see the two classics: de Roover, R., Business, Banking and Economic Thought in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Selected Studies, Chicago, IL and London; University of Chicago Press, 1974
and Neal, L., The rise of financial capitalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Benini, R., “Sulle dottrine economiche di Antonio Serra”, Giornale degli Economisti, 3, 5, 1892, pp. 222–248, p. 232.
Blitz, R.C., “Mercantilist Policies and the Pattern of World Trade, 1500–1750”, Journal of Economic History, vol. 27, no. 1 (Mar.), 1967, pp. 39–55, p. 50.
On arbitrage in 17th-century capital markets, see Neal, L. and S. Quinn, “Networks of information, markets, and institutions in the rise of London as a financial centre, 1660–1720”, Financial History Review, 8, 2001, pp. 7–26. doi: 10.1017/S0968565001000130.
Rothbard, M., Economic Thought Before Adam Smith. An Austrian Perspective, vol. 1, Auburn, AL: 2006, p. 287
Viner J., Studies in the Theory of International Trade, New York, NY: Kelley, 1965, p. 76.
Spiegel, H.W., The Growth of Economic Thought, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1983, p. 101.
Kindleberger, C.P., Historical economics: Art or science? Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991.
Bulgarelli, L.A., L’imposta diretta nel Regno di Napoli in età moderna, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1993, p. 28.
Costabile, L., “Monetary Analysis, Financial Innovation, and Institutions before the Industrial Revolution: a Paradigm Case”, in M. Baranzini, C. Rotondi, R. Scazzieri (eds), Resources, Production and Structural Dynamics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 213–231.
Magnusson, L.J., “Mercantilism”, in W.J. Samuels, J.E. Biddle, and J.B. Davis (eds), A companion to the history of economic thought, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003, p. 53
Perrotta, C., “Thomas Mun’s England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade. The 17th Century Manifesto for Development Economics”, History of Economics Review, 59, 2014, pp. 94–106, p. 95.
Heckscher, E., Mercantilism, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1935, vol. II. p. 209.
Clower, R., “A Reconsideration of the Microfoundations of Monetary Theory”, Western Economic Journal, 6, 1967, pp. 1–8.
Keynes, J.M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, as reprinted in The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, ed. by Moggridge, D., vol. VII, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1936.
Triffin, R., “The myth and realities of the so-called gold standard” in B. Eichengreen (ed.), The Gold Standard in Theory and History, New York, NY and London: Methuen, 1985, pp. 121–140, p. 126.
Costabile, L., “Current Global Imbalances and the Keynes Plan. A Keynesian Approach for Reforming the International Monetary System”, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 20, 2, 2009, pp. 79–89.
Allen, W.R., “Modern Defenders of Mercantilist Theory”, History of Political Economy, 2, 2, 1970, pp. 381–397.
Coats, A.W., “The Interpretation of Mercantilist Economics: Some Historiographical Problems; with a rear-guard Response”, History of Political Economy, Fall, 5, 2, 1973, pp. 485–495.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Lilia Costabile
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Costabile, L. (2016). External Imbalances and the Money Supply: Two Controversies in the English “Realme” and in the Kingdom of Naples. In: Patalano, R., Reinert, S.A. (eds) Antonio Serra and the Economics of Good Government. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137539960_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137539960_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-71199-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53996-0
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)