Josiah Tucker: A Selection from His Economic and Political Writings

While often grouped with Tucker as a liberalizing thinker, Hume pushes back against Tucker’s policy activism. Hume is more skeptical of abstract economic prescriptions and emphasizes unintended consequences.

A direct rebuttal to Tucker’s views on American independence and imperial policy, Estwick defends constitutional empire and regulated trade.

Hume and Tucker engaged overlapping debates on commerce, balance of trade, money, and economic progress. Where Tucker was polemical and policy-oriented, Hume was analytical and philosophical. Together they represent the British Enlightenment debate on commerce before Adam Smith.

Smith systematizes and refines many arguments Tucker advanced earlier, especially on trade liberalization. Tucker is often described as a proto-Smithian, though less optimistic about empire and politics.

Cantillon’s foundational work on markets, population, and trade. While less moralistic than Tucker, still highly influential on later economists.

Burke shares Tucker’s concern with the moral and institutional foundations of commercial society. Burke offers a more cautious and historically sensitive approach to political economy.

A major influence on Tucker’s views of moral order, charity, and social obligation, Butler clarifies the ethical assumptions behind Tucker’s political economy.

Malthus represents a later, more pessimistic strand of British political economy which contrasts sharply with Tucker’s optimism about commerce and population growth.