ABSTRACT
Steuart can be presented as a precursor of the ‘Real versus Monetary’ debate. The particularity of his principal work1 is linked to its monetary nature. The monetary analysis intuitively developed in the Principles seems to be very different from the later developments of economic theory. We can identify this difference from two main bodies of Steuart’s analysis: a monetary approach to the economy and the role of government intervention in this economic frame. We are not concerned here with Steuart’s State interventionism, but we will attempt to clarify the monetary aspects of the Principles. We argue that the premises of an original monetary approach, totally opposed to the English political economy tradition, can be found in the work of this contemporary of Adam Smith.
