Essay on the Nature of Trade in General

Why it’s on the list: Cantillon’s essay, written around 1730 and published in 1755, is the first systematic treatment of an economy as a circular flow — prices, the entrepreneur who buys at a certain cost to sell at an uncertain price, and new money entering at particular points rather than uniformly (the Cantillon effect).

Where I heard about it

• Brendan McCord — opens the Foundations of Modern Economics section of his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, March 2026, with his own note: “Gene Epstein, former economics editor at Barron’s and a staunch Austrian, always insists that modern economics starts with this book rather than Adam Smith. A key strength of Cantillon’s is that he provides the first analysis of entrepreneurship.” Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

About this edition

Published posthumously as Essai sur la nature du commerce en général.

Connections

• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this card came from.
• Economics — the discipline this essay is a candidate origin point for.
• Capitalism — the circular-flow account of a commercial economy.
• Incentives — the entrepreneur bearing uncertainty for a residual is Cantillon’s contribution.