The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism Before Its Triumph: Political Arguments for Capitalism Before Its Triumph by Hirschman Albert O

Author:Hirschman, Albert O. [Hirschman, Albert O.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 18th Century, 17th Century, Social Science, Modern, Developing & Emerging Countries, History & Theory, Economic History, Politics, Sociology, Business, History, Philosophy, Business & Economics, General, Political Science
ISBN: 9781400848515
Google: nW0PAAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17942072
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1977-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THE P A S S I O N S A N D THE I N T E R E S T S

Although elements of a "real bills" doctrine can be found in their arguments, they criticized public debt expansion primarily on political grounds. It turns out in fact that their criticism stemmed from the same basic concern over the excesses of state power that had led them to a positive assessment of the increase in other types of movable wealth, such as bills of exchange. The latter types were welcomed by Montesquieu and others because they were expected to constrain the government's willingness and ability to engage in grands coups d'autorité. But this ability, and governmental power in general, could only be enhanced if the treasury became able to finance its operations by going into debt on a large scale. It was therefore perfectly consistent for these writers to hail increased circulation for bills of exchange while deploring it for "public stocks."

In showing how the bill of exchange and foreign exchange arbitrage make it less attractive for the powerful to act with their traditional recklessness and violence, Montesquieu does nothing but follow up on the program he had sketched out for himself in the brief essay

"On Politics" written twenty-three years before the publication of Esprit des lois:

It is useless to attack politics directly by showing how much its practices are in conflict with morality Press, 1970), pp. 90-107. It is here that Hume paints a terrifying picture of the political state to which England would be reduced if the public debt were allowed to expand indefinitely: "No expedient at all remains for resisting tyranny: Elections are swayed by bribery and corruption alone: And the middle power between king and people being totally removed, a grievous despotism must infallibly prevail" (p. 99). Hume and Montesquieu corresponded on these matters; see the excerpts reprinted in Writings on Economics, p. 189.

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I M P R O V I N G THE P O L I T I C A L ORDER

and reason. This sort of discourse convinces everybody, but changes nobody. . . . I believe it is better to follow a roundabout road and to try to convey to the great a distaste for certain political practices by showing how little they yield that is at all useful.8

Montesquieu was thus motivated by his central political principles to ferret out, to welcome, and also to exaggerate the beneficial political effects that might flow from the bill of exchange and foreign exchange arbitrage. These institutions and operations accord well with the political concern that animates the major part of his work: to discover a means of checking the abuse of unlimited power. His advocacy of the separation of powers and of mixed government arose from his search for countervailing power; for, in spite of radically different conclusions, he agreed with Hobbes that "every man who has power tends to abuse that power; he will go up to the point where he meets with barriers."9 In

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