The Quantity Theory of Money : From Locke to Keynes and Friedman

The quantity theory of money has remained at the heart of much of the contemporary economic debate, not least in the disputes between monetarist and Keynesian economists. United by a belief that the quantity theory of money is a significant economic theory whose history is frequently misunderstood, these essays challenge our understanding of both monetary economics and the history of its development. Beginning with an essay by Walter Eltis on John Locke and the quantity theory of money, this volume continues with work by Mark Blaug, Denis O'Brien, Robert Skidelsky and Geoffrey Wood on the development of the theory and its continuing relevance for contemporary economics. The volume concludes with comments by Don Patinkin. The essays in this book reassert a powerful thesis in the historiography of economics that the views we take of current economic issues influence our interpretation of the history of economic thought, and vice versa. They will be welcomed both by historians of economic thought and by economists directly concerned with contemporary debates.