Some neglected monetary theories of John Law

John Law is commonly regarded as a warm proponent of paper money based upon land as secuirity and ad the author of the author of the unfortunate Missisipi Bubble. This is due to the fact that the contributions which he made to the thoery of money and banking given in two groups of documents- The Piedemont Memorials and the French Money and Bnaking Documents- have escped the attention of most students. Analysis of these documents reveals that Law abandoned hid ideas of peaper money issued by a central semi-public banck and secured by a reserve of specie and commercial paper. Law was thus the first author , as far as it known, to givce a complete and logical exposition of the theories of modern bank paper money, bank credit operations, and reserve banking. In view of the significance of these contrinutions, our judgements of Law as an economic theist are in need of revision.