Towards a world history of economic thought : a China monetary perspective

The history of economic thought was arguably the most Eurocentric and Modernocentric subfield of economics. Most primers and readers in the English language used to deal with early modern Europe to the exclusion of other regions. The purpose of this research note is therefore to tentatively revisit famous and lesser-known thinkers across Eurasia, by way of encouraging more inclusive comprehensive accounts of economic thought in pre-modern and early modern times. The issues covered will be mercantile policy; usury and interest rates; taxation; and finally and most importantly monetary thought. The conclusions show that monetary nominalism was pervasive around the world; and that Islamic thinkers were the least anti-mercantile.