Joseph Massie

Who was Joseph Massie?

Joseph Massie was an 18th-century political economist who wrote about 15 pamphlets dealing with economic and financial questions. Although he was probably less important than writers such as James Denham-Steuart or Josiah Tucker, he contributed to the birth of political economy before Adam Smith.

Like most of the political economists writing in the 18th century, he was not engaged in economic activity. He was indeed a writer and antiquarian, owning more than 1,500 economic treatises, extending from 1557 to 1763. He used this collection, together with contemporary trade statistics, to write some 15 pamphlets on various questions such as urbanism, commerce, finances