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Gold, credit, and mortality: distinguishing deflationary pressures on the late medieval English economy

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  • PAMELA NIGHTINGALE

Abstract

This article uses national and local records of debt and evidence from coins, prices, and wages to discuss the economic effects of the gold coinage that was introduced into England in 1344. It distinguishes between the deflationary effects of gold and those of the falling population on prices and credit, and shows that a coinage dominated by gold reduced the volume of credit and transactions far more than the mortality rate and the total circulation of coin would indicate was likely. It relates these findings to the economic and social changes of the fifteenth century.

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  • Pamela Nightingale, 2010. "Gold, credit, and mortality: distinguishing deflationary pressures on the late medieval English economy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(4), pages 1081-1104, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:4:p:1081-1104
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00525.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hatcher, John & Bailey, Mark, 2001. "Modelling the Middle Ages: The History and Theory of England's Economic Development," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199244126, Decembrie.
    2. Pamela Nightingale, 1990. "Monetary contraction and mercantile credit in later medieval England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 43(4), pages 560-575, November.
    3. Gregory Clark, 2007. "The long march of history: Farm wages, population, and economic growth, England 1209–18691," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 60(1), pages 97-135, February.
    4. N. J. Mayhew, 1974. "Numismatic Evidence and Falling Prices in the Fourteenth Century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 27(1), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Michael Prestwich, 1979. "Early Fourteenth-Century Exchange Rates," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 32(4), pages 470-482, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yao Chen & Nuno Palma & Felix Ward, 2022. "Goldilocks: American precious metals and the Rise of the West," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-063/VI, Tinbergen Institute, revised 15 Feb 2023.
    2. Bell, Adrian R. & Brooks, Chris & Killick, Helen, 2022. "The first real estate bubble? Land prices and rents in medieval England c. 1300–1500," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

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