The Late Medieval Bullion Famine Reconsidered
- 3 March 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Journal of Economic History
- Vol. 58 (1) , 126-154
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700019914
Abstract
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.Keywords
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