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The Bank of Amsterdam through the lens of monetary competition

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  • Stephen F. Quinn
  • William Roberds

Abstract

In 1683 the Bank of Amsterdam introduced a form of fiat money that successfully competed with the coinage of the time. We argue that the principal motive for this monetary innovation was the uncertain value of coins circulating within the Dutch Republic. The Bank's fiat money regime persisted until the downfall of the Dutch Republic in 1795 and incorporated modern features such as gross settlement of financial obligations, open market operations, central bank repurchase agreements (the equivalent thereof), and emergency liquidity facilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen F. Quinn & William Roberds, 2012. "The Bank of Amsterdam through the lens of monetary competition," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2012-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:2012-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Charles M. Kahn & William Roberds, 2002. "The economics of payment finality," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 87(Q2), pages 1-12.
    2. Stephen Quinn & William Roberds, 2015. "Responding to a Shadow Banking Crisis: The Lessons of 1763," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(6), pages 1149-1176, September.
    3. Gandal, Neil & Sussman, Nathan, 1997. "Asymmetric Information and Commodity Money: Tickling the Tolerance in Medieval France," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(4), pages 440-457, November.
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    6. Kahn, Charles M. & Roberds, William, 2009. "Why pay? An introduction to payments economics," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-23, January.
    7. Arthur J. Rolnick & Francois R. Velde & Warren E. Weber, 1997. "The debasement puzzle: an essay on medieval monetary history," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 21(Fall), pages 8-20.
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    9. Isabel Schnabel & Hyun Song Shin, 2004. "Liquidity and Contagion: The Crisis of 1763," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(6), pages 929-968, December.
    10. Quinn, Stephen & Roberds, William, 2014. "How Amsterdam got fiat money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Neal, Larry & Quinn, Stephen, 2001. "Networks of information, markets, and institutions in the rise of London as a financial centre, 1660–1720," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 7-26, April.
    12. Carlos, Ann M. & Neal, Larry, 2011. "Amsterdam and London as financial centers in the eighteenth century1," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 21-46, April.
    13. Neal, Larry, 2000. "How it all began: the monetary and financial architecture of Europe during the first global capital markets, 1648 1815," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(02), pages 117-140, October.
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    15. Peter Spufford, 2006. "From Antwerp and Amsterdam to London: The Decline of Financial Centres in Europe," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 143-175, June.
    16. William Roberds & Stephen Quinn, 2007. "The Bank of Amsterdam and the Leap to Central Bank Money," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 262-265, May.
    17. de Vries,Jan & van der Woude,Ad, 1997. "The First Modern Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521578257.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Pia Paganelli, 2014. "David Hume on Banking and Hoarding," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(4), pages 968-980, April.
    2. Peter Bernholz, 2015. "Monetary Regimes and Inflation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16527.

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