近代早期英国的货币理论经历了一次重大转变,即从对货币短缺的焦虑转向对货币过量的担忧,这一理论重心的转变在货币史上具有重大意义,标志着货币理论在思想内涵上更为全面,在货币分析方法上逐渐走向成熟。探究这一转变背后的原因和货币思想的演进轨迹,就会发现随着近代早期市场经济的深入发展和资本主义的兴起,货币在英国经济中的作用日益凸显,但当时金属货币供应量远远无法满足对货币的需求量,金融革命后信用货币的发展才在一定程度上緩解了貨币短缺的状况。与此同时,当时的经济思想家对货币及其作用的认识也经历了一个过程,从早期的粗浅直观向科学理性分析转变,经济思想家的分析框架和哲学基础也从新亚里士多德思想框架转向现代科学,从而为货币理论的成熟和现代经济学的形成提供了条件。
The monetary theory underwent a major change from the anxiety about currency shortage to the worry about currency excess in early modern England. The change in the theoretical focus was of great significance in the history of money. It indicates that the monetary theory was more comprehensive in ideological connotation and gradually mature in the methods of monetary analysis Exploring the reasons behind this change and the evolution of monetary thinking will reveal that the role of money in the economy had become increasingly prominent with the in-depth development of the market economy and the rising of capitalism in the early modern period. But the supply of metal money was far not keeping up with the demand for money at that time. The development of credit money after the financial revolution eased the money shortage to a certain extent. At the same time the understanding of money and its role by economic thinkers at that time also went through a process from the early superficial and intuitive impression to scientific rational analysis. The analysis framework and philosophical foundation of economic thinkers also changed from the new Aristotle philosophy to modern science. It provided the conditions of maturing of monetary theory and the formation of modern economics.