Rice Vaughan

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 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition: Sept 2010). Retrieved 21 January 2013.
^ "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 13 July 2012.
^ "Quotations about Liberty and Power: 21 January, 2008". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 13 July 2012. 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 13 July 2012.
^ Murray N. Rothbard. "The East India Company and Its 17th-Century Defenders". Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved 13 July 2012. 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.

External links

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[RVaughanOxfordDNB-1] Jones, J. Gwynfor. "Vaughan, Rice (d. c.1672)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition: Sept 2010). Retrieved 21 January 2013.

[OnlineLibraryOfLiberty1-2] "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 13 July 2012.

[OnlineLibraryOfLiberty2-3] "Quotations about Liberty and Power: 21 January, 2008". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 13 July 2012. 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.

[OnlineLibraryOfLiberty3-4] "John Ramsay McCulloch, A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money [1856]". Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 13 July 2012.

[MisesInstitute-5] Murray N. Rothbard. "The East India Company and Its 17th-Century Defenders". Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved 13 July 2012. 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.

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