A Common Currency: Early U.S. Monetary Policy and the Transition to the Dollar / Peter L. Rousseau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rousseau, Peter L.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10702.

NBER working paper series no. w10702

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

A Common Currency

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

The transition of the U.S. money supply from the mixture of paper bills of credit, certificates, and foreign coins that circulated at various exchange rates with the British pound sterling during the colonial period to the unified dollar standard of the early national period was rapid and had far-reaching consequences. This paper documents the transition and highlights the importance of this standardization in bringing order to the nation's finances and in facilitating the accumulation and intermediation of capital. It describes how the struggle of the colonies to maintain viable substitutes for hard money set the stage for the financial leaders of the Federalist period, led by Alexander Hamilton, to settle upon the dollar, attach it to a convertible metallic base, and create a national Bank that issued notes denominated in the new monetary unit. It also presents recently-constructed estimates of the U.S. money stock for 1790-1820 and relates them to measures of the nation's early modernization.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2004.