Presentation of the book "Essay on the Nature of Trade in General" by R. Cantillon (edited by O. Ananyin)

Oleg Ananyin (HSE University, IE RAS) presented the first Russian translation of "Essay on the Nature of Trade in General" by Richard Cantillon on March 27, 2024.

Abstract:

Richard Cantillon is the most enigmatic figure in the history of economic thought, and his "Essay on the Nature of Trade in General" is a key book for the developent of economic science. Its ideas formed the basis of the Physiocrats’ Economic Table, and in many ways anticipated Malthus’s population theory, classical theories of value and money, and theories of entrepreneurship and spatial economics. W. S. Jevons called it “the cradle of political economy” when he accidentally discovered it a century and a half after it was written. This edition is the first complete translation of Cantillon’s Essay into Russian. It is based on the first French edition of 1755 and the English translation by G. Higgs in 1931, as well as on the results of modern studies of Cantillon’s work, reflected in two reprints of the Essay in 2015: A. Murphy’s translation and R. van den Berg’s unique variorum edition. In addition to the text of the "Essay", the volume contains a translation of Jevons's 1881 article, which restored the author's name after a century of oblivion, Alexandra Eidelnant's 1927 article - the only work of the Soviet period on Cantillon, as well as an introductory article on the personal fate of the author of the "Essay" and an accompanying article on Cantillon's place in the history of economic science. The publication of "Essay" is addressed to economists, historians of science, and anyone interested in the Age of Enlightenment and the history of social thought.

Full information about the book is available on the website of the Gaidar Institute Publishing House.