ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that John Law and James Steuart belong to an ancient and venerable tradition of economic analysis dubbed monetary analysis by J. Schumpeter in his History of Economic Analysis. Taking seriously Schumpeter’s opposition between real and monetary analysis helps to understand why Steuart may feel close to Law in spite of his reluctance towards many aspects of his system. A modern economic theoretician reading Law’s and Steuart’s works may notice the absence of any preoccupation concerning the so-called ‘integration of money in value theory’. According to Law and Steuart there is no possibility to calculate prices without resorting to money and payments. According to Law and Steuart, money is not an item of wealth nor a commodity. For Law and Steuart, wealth is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of money existence. Wealth has to be transformed through a sovereign procedure in order to be used as a means of payment.
