John Law
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John Law (bap. 21 April 1671 - 21 March 1729) was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself, and that national wealth depended on trade. He is said to be the father of finance, responsible for the adoption or use of paper money or bills in the world today.
Law was a gambler and a brilliant mental calculator, and was known to win card games by mentally calculating the odds. An expert in statistics, he was the originator of economic theories, including two major ideas: 'The Scarcity Theory of Value' and 'The Real Bills Doctrine of Money'.
Law was born into a banking family from Fife; his father had purchased a landed estate at Cramond on the Firth of Forth, and after his death in 1688, Law travelled to
On 9 April 1694 John Law fought a duel with Edward Wilson.
Law urged the establishment of a national bank to create and increase instruments of credit, and the issue of paper money backed by land, gold, or silver. The first manifestation of Law's system came when he had returned to his homeland and contributed to the debates leading to the Treaty of Union 1707 with a text entitled Money and Trade Consider'd with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money (1705). After the
He spent ten years moving between
He had the idea of abolishing minor monopolies and private farming of taxes and creating a bank for national finance and a state company for commerce and ultimately exclude all private revenue. This would create a huge monopoly of finance and trade run by the state, and its profits would pay off the national debt. The French Conseil des Finances, merchants, and financiers objected to this plan.
In May 1716 the Banque Générale ("General Bank") was set up by Law. It was a private bank, but three quarters of the capital consisted of government bills and government accepted notes. In August 1717, he bought the Mississippi Company, to help the French colony in
Law exaggerated the wealth of
Law subsequently moved between
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Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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