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Colonial Monetary Standards Contrasted: Evidence from the Seven Years' War

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  • Wicker, Elmus

Abstract

The Seven Years' War warrants a reinterpretation of the colonial paper-money experiment. Pennsylvania, New York, and South Carolina with fiduciary standards issued large quantities of paper money to finance the war accompanied by only moderate increases in the rate of inflation. Massachusetts with its pure specie standard financed the war with interest-bearing debt and fared little better, if not a little worse. Success of war finance in Pennsylvania, New York, and South Carolina can be attributed to paper-money issues that financed government expenditures and were matched by imposition of tax labilities for early redemption.

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  • Wicker, Elmus, 1985. "Colonial Monetary Standards Contrasted: Evidence from the Seven Years' War," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 869-884, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:45:y:1985:i:04:p:869-884_03
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Farley Grubb, 2012. "Is Paper Money just Paper Money/ Experimentation and Local Variation in the Fiat Paper Monies Issued by the Colonial Government of British North America, 1690-1775: Part I," Working Papers 12-07, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    2. Grubb, Farley, 2004. "The circulating medium of exchange in colonial Pennsylvania, 1729-1775: new estimates of monetary composition, performance, and economic growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 329-360, October.
    3. Hugh Rockoff, 2009. "Upon Daedalian Wings of Paper Money: Adam Smith and the Crisis of 1772," NBER Working Papers 15594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Farley Grubb, 2014. "A New Approach to Solving the Colonial Monetary Puzzle: Evidence from New Jersey, 1709-1775," NBER Working Papers 19903, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Rosenbloom, Joshua L., 2018. "The Colonial American Economy," ISU General Staff Papers 201802270800001002, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Ronald W. Michener & Robert E. Wright, 2006. "Miscounting Money of Colonial America," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(1), pages 4-44, January.
    7. Farley Grubb, 2006. "Theory, Evidence, and Belief—The Colonial Money Puzzle Revisited: Reply to Michener and Wright," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(1), pages 45-72, January.
    8. Bryan P Cutsinger & Vincent Geloso & Mathieu Bédard, 2022. "The wild card: colonial paper money in French North America, 1685 to 1719 [Economic Structure and Agricultural Productivity in Europe, 1300–1800]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(2), pages 185-207.
    9. Farley Grubb, 2012. "Chronic Specie Scarcity and Efficient Barter: The Problem of Maintaining an Outside Money Supply in British Colonial America ," Working Papers 12-08, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    10. Farley Grubb, 2013. "Colonial New Jersey's Paper Money Regime, 1709-1775: A Forensic Accounting Reconstruction of the Data," NBER Working Papers 19710, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Michael Sproul, 1998. "The Quantity Theory versus the Real Bills Doctrine in Colonial America," UCLA Economics Working Papers 775B, UCLA Department of Economics.
    12. Farley Grubb, 2016. "Is Paper Money Just Paper Money? Experimentation and Variation in the Paper Monies Issued by the American Colonies from 1690 to 1775," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, volume 32, pages 147-224, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    13. Farley Grubb, 2014. "A New Approach to Explaining the Value of Colonial Paper Money: Evidence from New Jersey, 1709-1775," Working Papers 14-08, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    14. Cutsinger, Bryan P. & Rouanet, Louis & Ingber, Joshua S., 2023. "Assignats or death: The politics and dynamics of hyperinflation in revolutionary France," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    15. Gary M. Pecquet & Clifford F. Thies, 2006. "Texas Treasury Warrants, 1861-1865: A Test Of The Tax-Backing Of Money," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 191-203, Spring.
    16. Farley Grubb, 2003. "Two Theories of Money Reconciled: The Colonial Puzzle Revisited with New Evidence," Working Papers 03-03, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.

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