| Summary: |
This year commemorates the bicentenary of one of David Ricardo’s lesser known publications, an 1816 pamphlet: Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency. This paper explores the meaning and significance of this work and presents a variety of interpretations that have emerged about Ricardo’s monetary theory. The commonly held view is that monetary concerns were only of marginal importance to Ricardo. The paper discusses the context, content and response to Proposals in order to evaluate this commonly held view. Furthermore, the scheme Ricardo lays out in Proposals is intimately connected with international exchanges. The implications of rival interpretations of Ricardo’s monetary theory on how the balance of payments and gold movements are understood are explored.
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