The big problem of small change / Thomas J. Sargent, François R. Velde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sargent, Thomas J., author.

Velde, François R., author.

Series:

Princeton economic history of the Western world.

Princeton Economic History of the Western World

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Money--Europe--History.

Money.

Coins--Europe--History.

Coins.

Mints--Europe--History.

Mints.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (429 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxfordshire, England : Princeton University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Big Problem of Small Change offers the first credible and analytically sound explanation of how a problem that dogged monetary authorities for hundreds of years was finally solved. Two leading economists, Thomas Sargent and François Velde, examine the evolution of Western European economies through the lens of one of the classic problems of monetary history--the recurring scarcity and depreciation of small change. Through penetrating and clearly worded analysis, they tell the story of how monetary technologies, doctrines, and practices evolved from 1300 to 1850; of how the "standard formula" was devised to address an age-old dilemma without causing inflation. One big problem had long plagued commodity money (that is, money literally worth its weight in gold): governments were hard-pressed to provide a steady supply of small change because of its high costs of production. The ensuing shortages hampered trade and, paradoxically, resulted in inflation and depreciation of small change. After centuries of technological progress that limited counterfeiting, in the nineteenth century governments replaced the small change in use until then with fiat money (money not literally equal to the value claimed for it)--ensuring a secure flow of small change. But this was not all. By solving this problem, suggest Sargent and Velde, modern European states laid the intellectual and practical basis for the diverse forms of money that make the world go round today. This keenly argued, richly imaginative, and attractively illustrated study presents a comprehensive history and theory of small change. The authors skillfully convey the intuition that underlies their rigorous analysis. All those intrigued by monetary history will recognize this book for the standard that it is.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part I. A Problem and Its Cure

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. A Theory

Chapter 3. Our Philosophy of History

Part II. Ideas and Technologies

Chapter 4. Technology

Chapter 5. Medieval Ideas about Coins and Money

Chapter 6. Monetary Theory in the Renaissance

Part III. Endemic Shortages and "Natural Experiments"

Chapter 7. Clues

Chapter 8. Medieval Coin Shortages

Chapter 9. Medieval Florence

Chapter 10. Medieval Venice

Chapter 11. The Price Revolution in France

Chapter 12. Token and Siege Monies

Part IV. Cures and Side-effects

Chapter 13. The Age of Copper

Chapter 14. Inflation in Spain

Chapter 15. Copycat Inflations in Seventeenth-Century Europe

Chapter 16. England Stumbles toward the Solution

Chapter 17. Britain, the Gold Standard, and the Standard Formula Chapter

Chapter 18. The Triumph of the Standard Formula

Chapter 19. Ideas, Policies, and Outcomes

Part V. A Formal Theory

Chapter 20. A Theory of Full-Bodied Small Change

Chapter 21. The Model

Chapter 22. Shortages: Causes and Symptoms

Chapter 23. Arrangements to Eliminate Coin Shortages

Chapter 24. Our Model and Our History

Glossary

References

Legal Citations Index

Author Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781400851621

1400851629

OCLC:

875819048