The papers in this edited volume discuss key historical elements of 'monetarism, including coins and moneys of account, the role of bullion and case studies of substitute moneys. The debasement of coinage is fundamental to any study of this kind and is explored within ancient, medieval and early modern contexts across Europe, Asia and the Americas. This comparative approach demonstrates that an understanding of money is fundamental for an understanding of economics and economic history.
Introduction - John H Munro
1 The Technology and Economics of Coinage Debasements in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: With Special Reference to the Low Countries and England - John H Munro
2 From Aurelian to Diocletian: Financing Imperial Recovery by Coinage Debasements and Fiduciary Currencies - Kenneth W Harl
3 The Making of a Gold Standard: The Ducat and its Offspring, 1284-2001 - Alan Stahl
4 Debasement of the Coinage, its Effects on Exchange Rates and the Economy in England during the 1540s, and in the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands during the 1480s - Peter Spufford
5 The Amsterdam Wisselbank's Innovations in the Monetary Sphere: The Role of 'Bank Money' - Herman Van der Wee
6 Silver in England, 1600-1800: Coinage Outputs and Bullion Exports from the Records of the London Tower Mint and the London Company of Goldsmiths - Nicholas Mayhew
7 The Burdens of Tradition: Debasements, Coinage Circulation and Mercantilist Public Policy Debates in Seventeenth-Century Aragon - José Antonio Mateos Royo
8 Money or Export Commodity for Asia? American Silver in the Markets of Mexico, Seville and Amsterdam from the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century - Renate Pieper
9 Cacao Beans in Spanish Colonial Mexico: Small Change in a Global Economy - Arturo Giraldez
10 Precious Metals, Debasements and Cowrie Shells in the Medieval Indian Monetary Systems, c.1200-1575 - John Deyell