1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Macleod, Henry Dunning

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14855871911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 17 — Macleod, Henry Dunning

MACLEOD, HENRY DUNNING (1821–1902), Scottish economist, was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Eton, Edinburgh University, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1843. He travelled in Europe, and in 1849 was called to the English bar. He was employed in Scotland on the work of poor-law reform, and devoted himself to the study of economics. In 1856 he published his Theory and Practice of Banking, in 1858 Elements of Political Economy, and in 1859 A Dictionary of Political Economy. In 1873 appeared his Principles of Economist Philosophy, and other books on economics and banking were published later. Between 1868 and 1870 he was employed by the government in digesting and codifying the law of bills of exchange. He died on the 16th of July 1902. Macleod’s principal contribution to the study of economics consists in his work on the theory of credit, to which he was the first to give due prominence.

For a judicious discussion of the value of Macleod’s writings, see an article on “The Revolt against Orthodox Economics” in the Quarterly Review for October 1901 (No. 388).