''On the System or Theory of the Trade of the World'' is an immediate precursor to the first modern economic texts, written by

Isaac Gervaise Gervaise wrote a prototypical examination of monetary theory in 1720 Isaac Gervaise (born ca. 1680 in Paris, died 1739) was an English merchant and economist. Gervaise was of a Huguenot family which fled to England in 1681. He was granted na ...

and published in 1720. Along with several other early economic texts, Gervaise was building on the efforts to understand the catastrophic damage that the unstable value of gold had wreaked upon Europe during the two centuries of

price revolution The Price Revolution, sometimes known as the Spanish Price Revolution, was a series of economic events that occurred between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 17th century, and most specifically linked to the high rate o ...

that had occurred up to that point. During that period, the importation of gold from the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

had caused relatively enormous inflation in Europe, especially

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, with fluctuations of deflation in between.

The Book

Written thirty years before

Ferdinando Galiani Ferdinando Galiani (2 December 1728, Chieti, Kingdom of Naples – 30 October 1787, Naples, Kingdom of Naples) was an Italian economist, a leading Italian figure of the Enlightenment. Friedrich Nietzsche referred to him as "a most fastidious and ...

's book on

monetary theory Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different competing theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions (such as medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account), and it ...

, ''

Della Moneta Della Moneta (On Money) is a book written by Ferdinando Galiani, and is considered one of the first specific treatises on economics, especially monetary theory, preceding Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations by twenty-five years. Summary ''Della Mo ...

'' (which may have built upon it), ''Trade of the World'' attempted to examine the same problems that prompted Galiani, though he did so in a more primitive way. Among the topics he explicitly identifies and addresses are "Credit, and Its Effects on Trade", "The Balance of Trade", and inflation/deflation, which he refers to as "Accidents that Change the Proportion of Particular Denominators" and "Altering the Denomination of Coin". He goes on to discuss other, non-monetary economic issues, like manufacturing and businesses. The book is subtitled ''And showing the Pernicious Consequences of CREDIT, and that it destroys the Purpose of National Trade''...and thus it's no surprise that Gervaise concludes the special favors granted in

mercantilism Mercantilism is an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. It promotes imperialism, colonialism, tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal. The policy aims to reduce a ...

, essentially

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and state-imposed corporate oligopoly and funding, are harmful to the economy and have caused many of the more recent inflation problems. At the time of its publication, in fact, the Royal Lustring Company had lost its own charter amid scandal, after having operated for the previous 23 years in such a capacity. The company, which dealt in the manufacture of fabric using Asian

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

, had gone out of business in a catastrophic way that would seem familiar with the corporate crises of the early 21st century, including a calls for a bailout and trade protection. His own family an investor in that company, all of this is alluded to by Gervaise in his own book's foreword.System or theory of the trade of the world
/ref>

References

Economics books Monetary economics 18th-century books 1720 in economics {{econ-book-stub