Conflicting Views on Fiat Currency
Britain and its North American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8420082 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edwin J Perkins (University of Southern California, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 8-30 |
| Publication date | 1991-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Business History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6791 • E-ISSN: 1743-7938 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00076799100000099 |
| OpenAlex | W2089768878 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Great Britain and its North American colonies possessed radically different monetary systems in the eighteenth century, particularly in regard to the role of government fiat paper. Parliament issued on fiat monies because of the fear of irreversible depreciation. In contrast, colonial legislatures started issuing various forms of paper monies in the 1690s and some persisted through the 1770s. Every colony issued tax anticipation bills. Most colonies also created public loan offices – called land banks by contemporaries – which loaned currency to private individuals, and the interest revenues made substantial contributions to several provincial budgets. Ironically, after the War for Independence, the new US Constitution prohibited fiat issues by the state legislatures, and the nation shifted to a system of chartered institutions issuing banknotes convertible into specie very similar to the system prevailing in Britain
Circulation (fluid dynamics · Clearing · Colonialism · Constitution · Currency · Depreciation (economics · Economic history · Economics · Fiat money · Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Legal tender · Legislature · Loan · Market economy · Monetary economics · Monetary policy · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Revenue · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Finance · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law
| Citations per year | 0.1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2005 - 2005 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |