Bimetallism

This history of bimetallic monetary regimes in the Western world shows how changes in coining technology and fiscal systems affected the evolution of monetary regimes. The book explains why bimetallism was preferred to a gold standard before 1800. This book was first published in 2000.

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This book, first published in 2000, presents a history of Western monetary systems and explains why bimetallism was preferred to a gold standard before 1800. Professor Redish argues that the technological ability to issue fiduciary monies, and a commitment mechanism to prevent opportunistic governments changing the ratio between the currency and a unit of gold, were (frequently overlooked) prerequisites for the emergence of the Classical gold standard. The simplicity of the gold standard, a monetary system where there is a fixed ratio between a weight of gold and a unit of currency, makes it an obvious focus for discussion of commodity money systems, and for contrasting with today's fiat money regimes.