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Understanding Money Using Historical Evidence

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Abstract

Debates about the nature and economic role of money are mostly informed by evidence from the 20th century, but money has existed for millennia. We argue that there are many lessons to be learned from monetary history that are relevant for current topics of policy relevance. The past acts as a source of evidence on how money works across different situations, helping to tease out features of money that do not depend on one time and place. A close reading of history also offers testing grounds for models of economic behavior and can thereby guide theories on how money is transmitted to the real economy.

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  • Adam Brzezinski & Nuno Palma & Francois R. Velde, 2024. "Understanding Money Using Historical Evidence," Working Paper Series WP 2024-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:98103
    DOI: 10.21033/wp-2024-10
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy; Monetary History; Natural Experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

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