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The Late Medieval Bullion Famine Reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Nathan Sussman
Nathan Sussman
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University, Department of Economics, Jerusalem, Israel 91905.
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Extract

The bullion famine, manifested in chronic balance-of-payments deficits with the East, is widely cited as the cause of the great depression of the Renaissance. Adapting the monetary approach to the balance-of-payments model to the medieval commodity money setting this article shows that western Europe could not suffer a balance-of-payments deficits and bullion shortage simultaneously. New data show that it is unlikely that France suffered a shortage of silver from 1360 to 1415. Minting volumes diverged between regions according to economic fortunes. Excess silver stocks were likely hoarded rather than exported.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 126 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1998

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