The Scottish monetary theorist and banker John Law (1671-1729) anticipated many contemporary banking and fiscal practices.

John Law was born on April 21, 1671, in Edinburgh to wealthy parents. While in London to continue his education, he killed a rival in a love affair in 1694 and had to flee to Amsterdam. There and elsewhere in Europe he studied banking and financial practices and developed his own economic and monetary theories.

Law exposed his views in a number of works, the most important being Money and Trade Considered with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money (1705). According to Law, as well as many of his contemporaries, the main responsibility of government was to increase the prosperity of the country. This could be accomplished most effectively by increasing the amount of currency in circulation. However, unlike the mercantilists who emphasized the importance of the precious metals, Law believed that paper currency...