ABSTRACT
Though relatively brief by present standards, Hume’s political economy treats five of the major questions of his period : monetary theory, interest theory, the problem of free versus controlled markets, the shifting and incidence of taxes and fiscal policy. Presented as a collection of essays on different subjects, the analysis does not appear in anything like the form of a treatise. Rather does it take the form of a running critical commentary on the economic thought of the period. It is this highly self- conscious critical purpose, among other things, that makes Hume especially interesting reading. Indeed there is relatively little in his political economy that is not discussed within a controversial frame of reference, so that almost every essay reads as a kind of debate in which Hume pointedly seeks to expose and rectify what he regards as the main economic errors of his day.
