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A common currency: early US monetary policy and the transition to the dollar

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Author Info
ROUSSEAU, PETER L.

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Abstract

The transition of the US 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 article documents the transition and highlights the importance of this standardisation 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 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 US money stock for 1790 1820 and relates them to measures of the nation s early modernisation.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Cambridge University Press in its journal Financial History Review.

Volume (Year): 13 (2006)
Issue (Month): 01 (March)
Pages: 97-122
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Handle: RePEc:cup:fihrev:v:13:y:2006:i:01:p:97-122_00

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Farley Grubb, 2003. "Creating the U.S. Dollar Currency Union, 1748-1811: A Quest for Monetary Stability or a Usurpation of State Sovereignty for Personal Gain?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1778-1798, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Peter L. Rousseau & Richard Sylla, 2001. "Financial Systems, Economic Growth, and Globalization," Working Papers 0119, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-80, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Peter L. Rousseau & Richard Sylla, 2000. "Emerging Financial Markets and Early U.S. Growth," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1254, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Rousseau, Peter L & Wachtel, Paul, 1998. "Financial Intermediation and Economic Performance: Historical Evidence from Five Industrialized Countries," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(4), pages 657-78, November.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Farley W. Grubb, 2005. "State "Currencies" and the Transition to the U.S. Dollar: Reply--Including a New View from Canada," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1341-1348, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ronald W. Michener and Robert E. Wright, 2006. "Miscounting Money of Colonial America," Econ Journal Watch, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, vol. 3(2), pages 4-44, May. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2008-9-2.


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