Ferdinando Galiani, 1728–87 and Sir James Steuart, 1713–80: Real Value and Corn Trade

Galiani and Steuart share some similarities in the process of formation of economic science. Both were contemporaries of Hume, Quesnay, Turgot and Smith and were part of the Enlightenment. They were, however, much less successful among their contemporaries, though Galiani was extremely popular in Paris. They both travelled extensively in Europe, and were especially familiar with France. In the history of economic thought, Galiani has been overshadowed by Quesnay, and Steuart’s Principles of Political Oeconomy by the Wealth of Nations. Both authors also suffered political misfortunes, though Galiani’s recall from Paris back to Naples is incomparable to Steuart’s long exile. With respect to their economic analysis, they played a small role in development of classical political economy, even though their work contains interesting hints and notions. The line running from Petty to Cantillon and then to Quesnay and Smith, is much thinner in the case of these two authors. Occasionally they oppose, sometimes for very good reasons, the emerging surplus approach. Partial neglect of their contributions is now being remedied. Although the economics of Steuart and Galiani appears to have little in common, they share a concern for reality, for the actual effects of specific policies and, for problems of administration. This caused them to treat wide ranging generalisations or the application of identical theories to different historical situations with suspicion. Both Steuart and Galiani also show a strong taste for policy and for history.