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Richard Cantillon was an 18th century banker and economist whose "Essai sur la nature du commerce en general" (1755), published 21 years after his death, is still considered to be a significant contribution to the development of monetary theory. This biography discusses Cantillon's theories and shows how his career helps to explain the nature of Europe's first major stock exchange booms, the South Sea Bubble and the Mississippi System. It also shows how his theorizing as an economist meshed with his activities as a banker-entrepreneur to make him one of Europe's wealthiest men before his death in mysterious circumstances. The book should be of interest to historians and economists as well as to the general reader.