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Scrip as private money, monetary monopoly, and the rent‐seeking state in Britain

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  • ELAINE TAN

Abstract

Scrip—promissory notes payable in goods at company stores—was issued by employers to pay workers, and was an important component of British money during the industrial revolution. As late as the third quarter of the nineteenth century, scrip issued by coal firms, which represented the foregone demand for official currency, was at least 9 to 24 per cent of the value of English country or Scottish banknote issues. In some areas, scrip was 38 per cent of the total wages paid. The state's suppression of this private currency to defend its seigniorage rents was in part the motivation behind the prohibition of the truck system in 1831.

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  • Elaine Tan, 2011. "Scrip as private money, monetary monopoly, and the rent‐seeking state in Britain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 237-255, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:64:y:2011:i:1:p:237-255
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00549.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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