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'''Rice Vaughan''' was a seventeenth century Anglo-Welsh [[economist]] known for writing a seminal work on [[economics]] and [[Currency|currencies]] entitled ''A Discourse on Coins and Coinage''. |
'''Rice Vaughan''' (d. circa 1672)<ref name="RVaughanOxfordDNB">Jones, J. Gwynfor. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28138 "Vaughan, Rice (d. c.1672)"] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.</ref> was a seventeenth century Anglo-Welsh lawyer and [[economist]] known for writing a seminal work on [[economics]] and [[Currency|currencies]] entitled ''A Discourse on Coins and Coinage''. |
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==Biography== |
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Rice Vaughan was the "second son of Henry Vaughan of Gelli-goch, Machynlleth, and Mary, daughter of Maurice Wynn of Glyn, near Harlech."<ref name="RVaughanOxfordDNB" /> He graduated from the [[Shrewsbury School]] in 1615 and later in life entered [[Gray's Inn]] for a career in the law before being admitted to the bar in 1648.<ref name="RVaughanOxfordDNB" /> During the English Civil War, he sided with parliament against King Charles I. He is thought to have died before the publication of his works, the earliest in 1672. |
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==Works== |
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* 1651: ''A Plea for the Common Laws of England'' (a reply to Hugh Peter's ''A Good Work for a Good Magistrate; Practica Walliae, or, The Proceedings in the Great Sessions of Wales'' (published posthumously, in 1672) |
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* 1675: ''A Discourse of Coin and Coinage'' (published posthumously and edited by poet, [[Henry Vaughan]]) |
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Vaughan wrote an early work on [[currency]], ''A Discourse of Coin and Coinage''<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty1">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2060&chapter=155417&layout=html&Itemid=27 |title=Vaughan, A Discourse of Coin and Coinage - John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856] |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13}}</ref> (1675). He argued that it was a mass voluntary consensus, the "concurrence of mankind", that gave currency its value as a medium of exchange, not the laws which enforce the usage of currency or the inherent worth of a currency's material composition (such as gold or silver).<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty2">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=full_quote.php%3Fquote=156&Itemid=275 |title=Quotations about Liberty and Power: 21 January, 2008 |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13 |quote=But you will say, that gold coins, excepting the difference of colour, and of some other properties of the metals, have as much the appearance of money as silver coins: Granted; and so have copper coins too; and so might pewter ones, &c., but this is nothing to the purpose; it is not the mint, but the laws, and the universal concurrence of mankind, that make money.}}</ref> This work also contained the earliest known research on price level changes and [[price index|price indices]]. [[John Ramsay McCulloch]] included ''A Discourse...'' in his ''A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money''<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty3">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2060&chapter=155417&layout=html&Itemid=27 |title=John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856] |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13}}</ref> (1856). |
Vaughan wrote an early work on [[currency]], ''A Discourse of Coin and Coinage''<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty1">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2060&chapter=155417&layout=html&Itemid=27 |title=Vaughan, A Discourse of Coin and Coinage - John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856] |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13}}</ref> (1675). He argued that it was a mass voluntary consensus, the "concurrence of mankind", that gave currency its value as a medium of exchange, not the laws which enforce the usage of currency or the inherent worth of a currency's material composition (such as gold or silver).<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty2">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=full_quote.php%3Fquote=156&Itemid=275 |title=Quotations about Liberty and Power: 21 January, 2008 |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13 |quote=But you will say, that gold coins, excepting the difference of colour, and of some other properties of the metals, have as much the appearance of money as silver coins: Granted; and so have copper coins too; and so might pewter ones, &c., but this is nothing to the purpose; it is not the mint, but the laws, and the universal concurrence of mankind, that make money.}}</ref> This work also contained the earliest known research on price level changes and [[price index|price indices]]. [[John Ramsay McCulloch]] included ''A Discourse...'' in his ''A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money''<ref name="OnlineLibraryOfLiberty3">{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2060&chapter=155417&layout=html&Itemid=27 |title=John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856] |publisher=Online Library of Liberty |accessdate=2012-07-13}}</ref> (1856). |
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Revision as of 16:07, 21 January 2013
Rice Vaughan (d. circa 1672)[1] was a seventeenth century Anglo-Welsh lawyer and economist known for writing a seminal work on economics and currencies entitled A Discourse on Coins and Coinage.
Biography
Rice Vaughan was the "second son of Henry Vaughan of Gelli-goch, Machynlleth, and Mary, daughter of Maurice Wynn of Glyn, near Harlech."[1] He graduated from the Shrewsbury School in 1615 and later in life entered Gray's Inn for a career in the law before being admitted to the bar in 1648.[1] During the English Civil War, he sided with parliament against King Charles I. He is thought to have died before the publication of his works, the earliest in 1672.
Works
- 1651: A Plea for the Common Laws of England (a reply to Hugh Peter's A Good Work for a Good Magistrate; Practica Walliae, or, The Proceedings in the Great Sessions of Wales (published posthumously, in 1672)
- 1675: A Discourse of Coin and Coinage (published posthumously and edited by poet, Henry Vaughan)
A Discourse of Coin and Coinage
Vaughan wrote an early work on currency, A Discourse of Coin and Coinage[2] (1675). He argued that it was a mass voluntary consensus, the "concurrence of mankind", that gave currency its value as a medium of exchange, not the laws which enforce the usage of currency or the inherent worth of a currency's material composition (such as gold or silver).[3] This work also contained the earliest known research on price level changes and price indices. John Ramsay McCulloch included A Discourse... in his A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money[4] (1856).
Economist Murray N. Rothbard has said that Vaughan was "perhaps the best economic analyst" of his period.[5] Rothbard has praised Vaughan for recognizing that whilst the value of a good is dependent on consumer demand, a good's price results from the interaction of its subjective utility and relative scarcity.
References
- ^ a b c Jones, J. Gwynfor. "Vaughan, Rice (d. c.1672)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- ^ "Vaughan, A Discourse of Coin and Coinage - John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856]". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
- ^ "Quotations about Liberty and Power: 21 January, 2008". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
But you will say, that gold coins, excepting the difference of colour, and of some other properties of the metals, have as much the appearance of money as silver coins: Granted; and so have copper coins too; and so might pewter ones, &c., but this is nothing to the purpose; it is not the mint, but the laws, and the universal concurrence of mankind, that make money.
- ^ "John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856]". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
- ^ Murray N. Rothbard. "The East India Company and Its 17th-Century Defenders". Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
Perhaps the best economic analyst of all in this period was Rice Vaughn, whose A Discourse of Coin and Coinage, though published in 1675, was written in the mid-1620s.