David Hume

1711-1776

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, interested in economics. His Political Discourses (1752) contained several chapters devoted to economic analysis, the best known being his essay Of Money. Hume dismissed mercantilist fears of free trade, pointing out that money movements respond to rises and falls in prices which prevent permanent balance of payments surpluses or deficits. Hume’s views on paper money anticipated the quantity theory of money.