A wise and frugal government. L’economia politica di Jefferson e lo scontro con Hamilton sulla banca federale: una nota

Jefferson’s views on economics reflect a shift in the eighteenth-century European economic theories towards classical economics, a typically British school of thought. The idealisation of agriculture and the distrust of industry and international trade bring Jefferson closer to the ideas French physiocracy. On the other hand, some of his views on the regulation of international trade can be traced back to a mercantilist approach. On the other hand, Jefferson subscribed to Malthus’ ideas and to the dichotomy between the real sector and the monetary sector. This, and his desire to maintain this dichotomy even at the cost of resisting the spontaneous trends of historical evolution in the monetary and banking fields, led to the clash between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the National Bank of the United States project. Jefferson came out against Hamilton, who envisioned for America an imperial future of wealth and power, based on industry and supported by credit and finance. Jefferson gave a voice to the landowners and designed for America a future based on agriculture and small manufacturing businesses, in which the nation would be safe from the dangers of financial speculation and monetary manipulation