«A rather slavish disciple of Adam Smith»? Notes on Sismondi and (dis)equilibria in international trade

In the middle of 1930s, two main economists, Bertil Ohlin and Jacob Viner, give two very different opinions on Sismondi’s contribution to international trade theory. While Ohlin recognizes Sismondi as one of the forerunners of the factor endowments approach, Viner stresses Sismondi’s dependence on theoretical Smith’s legacy. Ohlin’s judgment is confirmed by one – at least – more passage in Sismondi’s works. However, Sismondi offers in his oeuvre various innovative points of view on international economy. In his Richesse he highlights how the international balance might have effects on national growth. Furthermore, again in the Richesse and in the Nouveaux Principes too, he stresses the role of credit in international balance equilibrium, while he casts doubt on the effectiveness of specie flow mechanism. Finally, in his essay Du numeraire, he offers a powerful description of the destabilising effects of international loans on balance of payments of ‘peripherical’ countries, which is not uninteresting for nowadays readers