A01=Francois R. Velde
A01=Thomas J. Sargent
Account (accountancy)
Arbitrage
Author_Francois R. Velde
Author_Thomas J. Sargent
Banknote
Bimetallism
Bullion
Category=KCBM
Category=NHT
Coin
Commodity
Commodity money
Counterfeit
Creditor
Currency
Currency board
Debasement
Debt
Debtor
Denomination (currency)
Depreciation
Devaluation
Ducat
Economic equilibrium
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Exchange rate
Exchange value
Expense
Face value
Fiat money
Fineness
Gold coin
Gold standard
Gresham's law
Inflation
Market price
Market value
Melting point
Mint (facility)
Monetary authority
Monetary policy
Monetary reform
Monetary system
Monetary Theory
Money supply
Open market operation
Opportunity cost
Ounce
Par value
Payment
Precious metal
Price level
Price of gold
Purchasing power
Quantity
Quantity theory of money
Rate of return
Real versus nominal value (economics)
Relative price
Repayment
Revenue
Seigniorage
Shortage
Silver as an investment
Silver coin
Supply (economics)
Supply and demand
Tax
Technology
Thaler
Token coin
Token money
Unit of account
Value (economics)
Wear and tear
Product details
- ISBN 9780691116358
- Weight: 482g
- Dimensions: 178 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 23 Nov 2003
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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 Francois 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.
Thomas J. Sargent is Donald Lucas Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A pioneer of the rational expectations school of macroeconomics, he is the author of "The Conquest of American Inflation" (Princeton), "Bounded Rationality in Macroeconomics", and "Dynamic Macroeconomic Theory". Francois R. Velde is Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and Lecturer in Economics at the University of Chicago.
