Genesis of Hume’s political economy of “manners”

Abstract

In this essay, I clarify what was original about the particular way in which Hume discussed economic subjects – ranging from apparently theoretical issues such as the origin of commerce, money and economic development to more practical and political questions including the moral quality of luxury and the use and abuse of paper money and public credit. It is impossible within this limited space to provide a systematic analysis of these subjects. Rather, I seek here to shed analytical light upon a specific idea with a view to providing a more systematic answer to the question of the precise place of David Hume against the background of the Scottish Enlightenment.