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"Wennerlind, Carl"
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The Material World of Capitalism
To grasp the enormity of change that capitalism ushered in, it is necessary to focus not only on economic institutions but on the systematic human conquest of nature over the last four centuries. The twin pursuits of territorial colonialism and operationalization of natural knowledge go a long way toward explaining both humanity's ability to turn nature into economic wealth and its devastating impact on earth systems and climate stability. While the dominant tradition of political economy (Locke, Hume, and Smith) from the seventeenth century onward focused mostly on private property and labor as the key components of wealth formation, for much of the Enlightenment era a rival tradition emphasized knowledge of nature's inner workings as the quintessence of wealth. Writers from Bacon to Linnaeus articulated a vision of improvement centered on the control of matter and energy that would profoundly shape the evolution of capitalism to this very day.
Journal Article
Casualties of credit : the English financial revolution, 1620-1720
Modern credit, developed during the financial revolution of 1620–1720, laid the foundation for England's political, military, and economic dominance in the eighteenth century. Possessed of a generally circulating credit currency, a modern national debt, and sophisticated financial markets, England developed a fiscal–military state that instilled fear in its foes and facilitated the first industrial revolution. Yet a number of casualties followed in the wake of this new system of credit. Not only was it precarious and prone to accidents, but it depended on trust, public opinion, and ultimately violence.
Carl Wennerlind reconstructs the intellectual context within which the financial revolution was conceived. He traces how the discourse on credit evolved and responded to the Glorious Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, the founding of the Bank of England, the Great Recoinage, armed conflicts with Louis XIV, the Whig–Tory party wars, the formation of the public sphere, and England's expanded role in the slave trade. Debates about credit engaged some of London's most prominent turn-of-the-century intellectuals, including Daniel Defoe, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Jonathan Swift and Christopher Wren. Wennerlind guides us through these conversations, toward an understanding of how contemporaries viewed the precariousness of credit and the role of violence—war, enslavement, and executions—in the safeguarding of trust.
eBook
Retrospectives: Hume on Money, Commerce, and the Science of Economics
David Hume (1711–1776) is arguably the most esteemed philosopher to have written in the English language. During his lifetime, however, Hume was as well if not better known for his contributions to political economy, particularly for the essays published as the Political Discourses (1752). Hume left his mark on the economic thought of the physiocrats, the classical economists, and the American Federalists. Adam Smith, who met Hume circa 1750, was his closest friend and interlocutor for some 25 years. Among modern economists, Hume's essays on money and trade have informed theorists of both Keynesian and Monetarist persuasions. In this essay, we begin by discussing Hume's monetary economics, and then spell out his theory of economic development, noting his qualified enthusiasm for the modern commercial system. We end with an assessment of his views on the scientific standing of economics, specifically his counterintuitive argument that economics could be epistemologically superior to physics.
Journal Article
