Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency
With Observations on the Profits of the Bank of England, as They Regard the Public and the Proprietors of Bank Stock

This work, published 1816, considers the national debt, paper money, and the possible creation of an independent national bank.

David Ricardo (Author)

9781108075459, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 January 2015

138 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.8 cm, 0.18 kg

David Ricardo's work on currency was published in 1816, and this second edition appeared in the same year. Enormously successful as a stockbroker, Ricardo (1772–1823) was able to lead the life of a wealthy country squire, while his intellectual interests caused him to move in the circles of Thomas Malthus and James Mill. Written at the urging of the Cornish businessman Pascoe Grenfell, MP, who shared Ricardo's interest in financial matters, this work considers the problem of the national debt, in the context of paper money and whether it should in principle be exchanged at face value for gold bullion rather than for minted coins. Ricardo was very concerned at the large profits being made by the Bank of England in its dealings with the government, and suggests here the creation of an independent central bank, a proposal to which he later returned.

Introduction
1. In the medium of circulation
2. Use of a standard commodity
3. The standard, its imperfections
4. An expedient
5. A practice which creates a great mass of mercantile inconvenience
6. The public services of the Bank excessively over-paid
7. Bank profits and savings
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]