The Link between David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature and His Fiduciary Theory of Money

David Hume’s position in the history of economic thought has oscillated betweenprominenceandobscurity.Certainwriters heraldHumeas a truly seminal economic thinker, whereas others tend to attribute limited impor-tance to his economic writings.1 The last twenty years have seen a resur-gence of interest in themonetarywritings ofHume, highlighted by the re-cent publication of two anthologies edited byMark Blaug (1991, 1995a). The papers contained therein, based exclusively on the short essay “Of Money ” from the Political Discourses ([1752] 1985), contribute to a co-herent interpretation ofHume’smonetary theory, allowing for onlymino