Abstract
O artigo contempla o debate sobre a possibilidade de uma escassez geral de demanda, transcorrido na Inglaterra na segunda década do século XVIII, buscando identificar seus pontos de contato com a controvérsia que, cem anos depois, daria origem à Lei dos Mercados. Inicialmente, retoma-se a discussão a respeito da parcimônia e do consumo de luxo verificada no contexto do pensamento mercantilista. A seguir, examina-se a concepção econômica de Bernard Mandeville sobre os vícios e a virtude, notadamente no tocante às condições de estabilidade do poder de compra. Após, analisamse as críticas de George Bluet, Francis Hutcheson e George Berkeley às idéias de Mandeville, bem como suas respectivas soluções para o problema da insuficiência de demanda. Ao final, avalia-se em que medida o debate antecipou o conteúdo de algumas proposições cruciais da escola clássica.
Abstract
In this paper we contemplate the debate, happened in Britain during the second decade of the eighteenth century, over the possibility of a general shortage of demand, in order to identify its common ground with the controversy that, a hundred years later, would give birth to the Law of Markets. To begin with, we go back to the discussion about parsimony and sumptuous consumption that took place within the mercantilist thought. After that, we examine Bernard Mandeville’s economic conception on vices and virtue, especially with regard to the conditions surrounding the stability of purchasing power. Subsequently, the criticisms from George Bluet, Francis Hutcheson and Bishop Berkeley against Mandeville’s ideas are analyzed, as well as their respective proposals to the problem of an insufficiency of demand. Finally, we evaluate in what extent the debate anticipated the contents of some crucial propositions of the classical school.
Key words: Vices. Virtue. Demand. Accumulation
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