ABSTRACT
The market and price of grain was a subject of major concern to Steuart throughout his economic research. He had already become interested in the subject in 1737. In 1749, he started a project which was to become his main work, the Inquiry into the Principles of Political Œconomy. The actual writing began in 1756, but he wrote the bulk of it in 1758 and 1759 (Chamley 1965). In 1763 he continued his research for Book IV, the manuscript was finished in 1766 (Skinner 1996) and it was published in the following year. At the same time, between 1758 and 1759, Steuart wrote A Dissertation on the Policy of Grain. As far as we know, this text was published by his son in 1783. In 1769, Steuart wrote his Considerations on the Interest of the County of Lanark in Scotland, proposing an economic policy regarding grain for the county of Lanark. This was published under the pseudonym Robert Frame (Skinner 1966:xlvii).1
