What readers "made of" a text is an object of historical study that is distinct from the "original purposes" that its author may have had. Later commentators will typically bring to bear concerns and perspectives of their own time when interpreting earlier economic writings. Simply condemning...

The monetary theories in Philip Cantillon's The Analysis of Trade (1759) differ in important respects from those found in Richard Cantillon's much more famous Essai sur la nature de Commerce en général (1759). Contrary to the received opinion that the Analysis was a poor translation of the...