Editing John Law (economist) (section)

==Legacy and assessment==
[[File:Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid, Wie redeneeren wil is mis, men vind de Lapis by de gis.jpg|thumb|Political cartoon from ''Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid'' (1720). Excerpt from the poem at bottom: "''The wind is my treasure, cushion, and foundation. Master of the wind, I am master of life, and my wind monopoly becomes straightway the object of idolatry''"]]

Law had lasting influence as a monetary theorist. He held that money creation stimulated an economy, paper money was preferable to metal, and dividend-paying shares a superior form of money.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2009/wp2009_10.pdf|title=Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, ''The Life and Times of Nicolas Dutot'', November 2009}}</ref> He propounded ideas such as the [[scarcity value|scarcity theory of value]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxUHBgAAQBAJ |title=Agricultural Finance: From Crops to Land, Water and Infrastructure |last=Geman |first=Helyette |date=29 December 2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118827369 |language=en}}</ref> and the [[real bills doctrine]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Humphrey |first1=Thomas M. |title=The Real Bills Doctrine |journal=Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Review |date=1982 |page=5 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6917306.pdf |access-date=15 January 2019}}</ref> 

The chaotic collapse of Law's System has been compared to the 17th-century [[tulip mania]] parable in Holland.<ref name=nyfed/> The Mississippi bubble coincided with the [[South Sea Company|South Sea bubble]] in England, which allegedly took ideas from it. 

[[Henry Thornton (reformer)|Henry Thornton]] explained why Law's scheme failed: "He forgot that there might be no bounds to the demand for paper; that the increasing quantity would contribute to the rise of commodities: and the price of commodities require, and seem to justify, a still further increase."<ref>[[Paper Credit|Henry Thornton (1802): An enquiry into the nature and effects of the paper credit of Great Britain ('Paper credit')]]</ref>

Law's nephew, [[Jean Law de Lauriston]], was later Governor-General of [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]].<ref>William Dalrymple ''The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of The East India Company'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.</ref>

The term "[[millionaire]]" was coined for beneficiaries of Law's scheme.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Antoine |title=John Law: Economic Theorist and Policy-maker |date=1997 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9780198286493 |pages=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kduEtlToecC&pg=PA3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Henriques |first1=Diana |title=A Big Idea About Money |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23henriqt.html |access-date=30 January 2019 |work=New York Times |date=23 July 2000}}</ref>

While most of Law's system was directed at domestic financial reform, its overseas impact was also notable, including the founding of [[New Orleans]] on behalf of the Compagnie d'Occident in 1718. More broadly, it has been assessed that "Law's was the most determined French colonial enterprise until the capture of Algiers in 1830".{{R|Buchan|p=152}}