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The 1628 Castilian crydown: A test of competing theories of the price level

Author

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  • José Isidro García de Paso

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Abstract

On August 7, 1628 the Castilian government halved overnight the nominal stock of money through the 50% crydown of its copper currency. The paper argues that this helicopter lift of money is a nice historical experiment to put to the test the empirical relevance of competing theories of the price level. The experiment shows how the post-crydown behaviour of the price level predicted by the weak form fiscal theory (the so-called Sargent-Wallace theory) matches actual data better than both the strong form fiscal theory and the quantity theory (the so-called monetarist theory). Classification-JEL : E31, E42, E63, E65, N13.

Suggested Citation

  • José Isidro García de Paso, 2002. "The 1628 Castilian crydown: A test of competing theories of the price level," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 163(4), pages 71-92, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2002:v:163:i:4:p:71-92
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buiter, Willem H., 1999. "The Fallacy of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level," CEPR Discussion Papers 2205, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    6. Croushore, Dean, 1993. "Money in the utility function: Functional equivalence to a shopping-time model," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 175-182.
    7. Leeper, Eric M., 1991. "Equilibria under 'active' and 'passive' monetary and fiscal policies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 129-147, February.
    8. James Conklin, 1998. "The Theory of Sovereign Debt and Spain under Philip II," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(3), pages 483-513, June.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. José Cendejas Bueno & Cecilia Font de Villanueva, 2015. "Convergence of inflation with a common cycle: estimating and modelling Spanish historical inflation from the 16th to the 18th centuries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1643-1665, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    crydown; monetarist theory; weak form fiscal theory; strong form fiscal theory.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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