Sir James Steuart on the “Infancy of Banking”: Financial System and Economic Development

José M. Menudo

A chapter in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on Sir James Steuart: The Political Economy of Money and Trade, 2020, vol. 38C, pp 71-86 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: This chapter examines James Steuart’s explanation of the relationship between banking system and economic development. Unlike other Scottish thinkers of the time, Steuart argues that the origin of commercial nations was not, in his view, a consequence of human nature and a long period of historical evolution. The establishment of the system of trade and commerce that gives rise to a “commercial nation” is conditioned by a series of elements that can render its appearance impossible. This chapter examines how the establishment of the system of trade and commerce that gives rise to a commercial nation is conditioned, according to Steuart, by the development of the banking system. It also broaches Steuart’s explanation of how the banking system functions within a non-commercial nation, which the Scottish author called “the infancy of banking.”

Keywords: James Steuart; preclassical monetary systems; banks; economic development; commercial society; financial system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542020000038c007

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542020000038C007

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