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American Precious Metals and their Consequences for Early Modern Europe

Author

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  • Nuno Palma

    (Department of Economics, University of Manchester; Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa; CEPR)

Abstract

Over the early modern period and beyond, massive amounts of silver and gold were found and mined in the Americas. In this paper, I review the consequences for the European economies. Some second-order receiver countries such as England benefited in both the short and long run. First-order receivers such as Spain and Portugal also benefited in the short-run, but their continued exposure to the arrival of massive quantities of precious metals eventually led to loss of competitiveness and an institutional resource curse.

Suggested Citation

  • Nuno Palma, 2019. "American Precious Metals and their Consequences for Early Modern Europe," Working Papers 0174, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0174
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    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_174.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Yao & Palma, Nuno & Ward, Felix, 2021. "Reconstruction of the Spanish money supply, 1492–1810," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Adam Brzezinski & Roberto Bonfatti & K. KıvançKaraman & Nuno Palma, 2020. "Monetary Capacity," Economics Series Working Papers 926, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Adam Brzezinski & Yao Chen & Nuno Palma & Felix Ward, 2019. "The vagaries of the sea: evidence on the real effects of money from maritime disasters in the Spanish Empire," Working Papers 0170, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Palma, Nuno & Reis, Jaime & Rodrigues, Lisbeth, 2023. "Historical gender discrimination does not explain comparative Western European development: evidence from Portugal, 1300-1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Kedrosky, Davis & Palma, Nuno, 2021. "The Cross of Gold: Brazilian Treasure and the Decline of Portugal," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 574, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Palma, Nuno & Santiago Caballero, Carlos, 2019. "Patterns of Iberian economic growth in the early modern period," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH 29185, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    American Precious Metals; Early Modern Period; Dutch Disease; Political Institutions; Economic growth; comparative development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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