Smith, Brian2022-03-012022-03-012021Smith, B. (2021). Josiah Child, Interest Rates, and John Locke’s “For a General Naturalization.” Modern Intellectual History, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1479244321000494http://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/6079Throughout the 1690s there were several high-profile parliamentary debates about lowering inter est rates from 6 to 4 percent. Locke’s involvement in these policy debates is significant. In this period, he circulated at least one important pamphlet on this issue to various Members of Parliament. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the links between Locke’s arguments against interest rate reduction and immigration policy. Locke’s essay “For a General Naturalization” (1693) employs some of the same pro-naturalization formulations that Josiah Child uses in A New Discourse of Trade (1693), a pamphlet that was ostensibly published in support of the parliamentary proposal for lower interest rates. Even though Locke had a long his tory with pro-naturalization arguments, the framework of his essay on naturalization is very likely an extension of those debates with Child about interest rates from 1691/2.enAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United StatesType of access: Open AccessNaturalizationArticle