Sir James Steuart on the Public Debt

Walter F. Stettner

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1945, vol. 59, issue 3, 451-476

Abstract: I. The British public debt in the eighteenth century and contemporary opinion, 451. — Steuart in the literature, 452. — II. Steuart's views on the public debt: public vs. private debt, 454; public debt and circulation, 455; public credit as the balance wheel, 456; comparison with taxes, 457; social effects, 458; repayment, 459; debt limits, 462. — III. British and French credit in the eighteenth century; deterioration of French credit, 466; influence of form of government, 467; public confidence, 467; narrowness of the market, 468; burdensome taxation, 468; the sinking fund, 469; interest rates, 471; qualifications, 471. — IV. The "evolutionist approach," 472. — V. Conclusion: Steuart's position, 475.

Date: 1945
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