Luxury, Inequality, and Commerce.

This paper seeks to assess the long-term significance of the eighteenth-century debate about the virtues or otherwise of luxury. It does so principally by contrasting the views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Jean-Francois Melon, author of the Essai politique sur le commerce (1734). Having considered the manner in which this argument was developed by the likes of Diderot and Saint-Lambert, the paper turns to an examination of the broader deabte about the nature of a commercial society and the relevance of the English model. By way of conclusion the paper looks at the writings of Jean-Baptiste Say to illustrate the enduring nature of the arguments posed by Rousseau against immoderate wealth and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]