John Law, Gordon Gekko of the 1700s

History often condemns Loss of memory Great character, far ahead of his time. But we cannot, in turn, condemn those who do so, because the same characters are often unable to function in the proxies necessary for everyday life, their intuition (which would later prove to be largely successful).

this is what happens John law, A man of the eighteenth century, the protagonist of an existence and historical event worthy of the greatest literary characters of his time, the subject of the biography of Silvia Maria Busetti John Law The test of a financial genius and a daring life (Liberbury). The author writes, “We know for sure that John Law was an out of the ordinary person.” It changed the world economy by spreading its system and paper money. He did so in the name of goodness, general prosperity and his ambition. He was bold and careless. To achieve this, he risked everything, and lost everything. “

The Scottish, the son of a goldsmith, a young gentleman killed an identical in London in a duel and had to flee the British state to escape Capital punishment. An expert in probability calculation, a passionate economist, he lived for years as a wanderer as a top-level gambler, consistent and engaging in Europe’s most prominent clubs and courts. Meanwhile, apart from this futile activity that gave him a life, he was developing a complex and innovative financial system that would shake the economic and social foundations of France and the world.

The law system focuses on widespread use Fiduciary currency (While a large part of the economic system in Europe was based on the intrinsic value of precious metals) that allowed lending in an extremely important way that could be guaranteed and therefore available liquidity, a great driving force for consumption Produces, but also, apparently, since no food is free, more than a solid specter of financial bubbles and hyper-inflation.

At that historic moment, soon after the death of the Sun King Louis XIV, the French state was on its knees for a court ruin, debt completely out of control (debt is always topical!), Business was almost. There was stagnation and poverty in the rural areas and suburban areas of the cities. The Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, had to devise a way to restore finances. And he thought that when he came across that charming Scot who reached the court, he gave the Regent an example of his idea that France’s main problem was lack of money: “When money is scarce, commerce is less Goes”. According to the law therefore it was necessary to increase the credit and the circulation of money to establish one National Bank Who will issue paper money in exchange for deposits in metal money.