Reading Group, Meeting Scheduled (8/31)
At our planning meeting, we sketched out a reading list. A quorum of group members seemed to want to “begin at the beginning” with Adam Smith, even if his monetary theory was discarded by the “neoclassical” tradition. It was suggested we allow our selves more flexibility to pursue distinct thematic constellations after that foundation. The plan is to meet once a week in the run up to the conference (October 31st). And we can adjust our goals as we go.
We’re going to try Monday at 6pm as our meeting time, with Monday August 31st as our first meeting with assigned reading. We’ll meet in the English Faculty Lounge, 2nd floor of Bryan Hall, across from the elevator. If you’re coming late, that’s fine. We may adjust the meeting time in the future.
Here’s our reading assignment:
- Adam Smith, Vol I, Book I, Chapters 3-7, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
- David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” “Of the Balance of Trade,” “Of Public Credit,” from Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary (1777)
Both of these texts are available at the “Online Library Liberty” and may be downloaded for free:
A sketch of reading assignments and suggestions appears pasted in below. Future readings that are protected by copyright may be stored behind a firewall on a UVa Collab worksite.
| August 31 | From Mercantilism to Capitalism |
| From David Hume’s Essays and Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations | |
| September 7 | Quantity Theory |
| Milton Friedman, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” American Economic Review (1948) and Karl Menger, On the Origins of Money (1948) | |
| September 14 | The State and Credit-Centered Critique |
| Innes, “Credit Theory of Money” and “What is Money?” and J.M. Keynes (Selections) – including Keynes on Indian currency and finance | |
To Be Scheduled:
Ian Baucom, Specters of the Atlantic
Ritu Birla, Stages of Capital
Thomas Malthus, Essay on Population
Randy Martin, Financialization of Daily Life
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
Tags: Adam Smith, Reading Group