"Harmony and the Balance reappraises the work of the leading English economic writers of the seventeenth century, using the intellectual models of their day rather than the analytical models of ours to show that they were no different from their compeers in viewing the marketplace as inherently chaotic: their economic "theories" were specifically designed to reign in that chaos.

Spanning the Stuart century, the import-export merchants, trained philosophers, physicians and lawyers turned speculators, builders, and government bureaucrats covered in this study - Gerard de Malynes, Edward Misselden, Thomas Mun, William Petty, Josiah Child, John Locke, Nicholas Barbon, Dudley North, and Charles Davenant - take us into the great trading companies and the halls of Parliament as we relive the debates over coinage, the interest rate, and the nature of money. But we will also see them model their works on the latest developments in physiology, borrow from bookkeeping, and argue over the nature of number in an effort to construct a market theory grounded in objective moral value.

Neither their theoretical achievements nor their failures can be understood without this context.".

"The book's approach is inclusive and interdisciplinary. It incorporates biography, political history, economic history, and intellectual theory as well as the economic heritage of its subjects, but the concepts involved are explained in plain English to make them accessible to the undergraduate in economic, political, or intellectual history. Extensive annotation provides more detail on the interpretive controversies and specialized sources.

Modern analytical models are discussed, but every effort is made to keep the reader grounded in the seventeenth century."--BOOK JACKET.