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The Massachusetts Paper Money of 1690

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  • Goldberg, Dror

Abstract

Modern currency originates in the inconvertible, legal tender paper money that Massachusetts devised in 1690. The circumstances that led to its creation are more complex than the typical story of wartime specie shortage. Due to temporary political constraints of that turbulent period, the currency could be neither backed by land nor imposed on anyone, as was then standard. Instead, it had to be disguised from England as a simple, private-seeming IOU. By pleasing both its pay-demanding troops and England, the government maximized its probability of survival subject to the constraints. “Monetary innovation, the development of new forms of money, has not received much systematic study from economic historians.”1

Suggested Citation

  • Goldberg, Dror, 2009. "The Massachusetts Paper Money of 1690," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1092-1106, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:69:y:2009:i:04:p:1092-1106_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Lin, Justin Yifu & Fardoust, Shahrokh & Rosenblatt, David, 2012. "Reform of the international monetary system : a jagged history and uncertain prospects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6070, The World Bank.
    2. Farley Grubb, 2016. "Is Paper Money Just Paper Money? Experimentation and Variation in the Paper Monies Issued by the American Colonies from 1690 to 1775," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, volume 32, pages 147-224, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Dror Goldberg, 2012. "The tax-foundation theory of fiat money," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(2), pages 489-497, June.

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