The economic thought of Juan de Lugo: A study of their theories of just price, money and interest

This paper focus on the economic thought of Juan de Lugo, a Spanish XVIIth scholastic, and his economic theories of just price, money and interest.;The first part deal with historic and scientist framework of Juan de Lugo, focus on the intellectual influences (school of Salamanca, nominalism,...) and the link between moral and economy in the scholastic thought.;The second part deals with the Lugo economic theories.;The just price theory is built over five different elements: justice, subjective theory of value, common estimation, legal and natural prices and restitution. It is shown in the work, that all these elements fit in a rational and coherent whole theory.;With respect the monetary thought it is shown the double conception of money like a simple coin and like capital (merchant's tool). Also it is analyzed the problem of the double value of money: natural (quantity and quality of metal) and legal (minting).;With respect the usury analysis, Lugo is compared with the XIIIth and XIVth scholastics on the purpose to see if there is any evolution in the approaches to usury, linked with the different economic and historic framework. It is concluded that the arguments against usury are the same but adapted to the new circumstances: a mercantile and financial framework much more dynamic than the quasi-stationary one characteristic of the Middle Ages.;The third part deal with two comparisons: first, between Lugo and other contemporary scholastics (mainly Luis de Molina), second one, between Lugo and the modern economic analysis.;It is concluded that Lugo appears like one of the last great scholastics. His methodology and conclusions are similar to the main late scholastic trend. Nevertheless, there are some differences, mainly two: Lugo appears much more jurist than economist in some problems (in comparison with Luis de Molina); second, Lugo appears much more liberal with some business than his early colleges, probably due to the different and much more dynamic economic framework.