Some Notes on the Gresham's Law of Money Circulation

Author(s): Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

The Gresham's Law is among the most known laws of economic science. In its popular version, the law is telling that when a government overvalues one type of money and undervalues another, the undervalued money disappears while the overvalued money floods into circulation. Named after Thomas Gresham, a financier of Tudor dynasty, this law was stated by Nicole Oresme and Nicolaus Copernicus. Here we discuss it and follow its long history.

Money Circulation, Commodities, Legal Tenders

1. Thomas Willing Balch, The Law of Oresme, Copernicus, and Gresham, Proceedings of The American Philosophical Society, 1908, Volume XLVII, Philadelphia
2. Louis Wolowski, La Question des Banques, 1864, Guillaumin, Paris
3. John William Burgos, The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, 1839, Robert Jennings, London
4. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Gresham's Law
5. G. Selgin, Gresham's Law, EH.Net Encyclopedia, Edited by Robert Whaples, June 9, 2003, eh.net/encyclopedia/ greshams-law
6. A. O'Sullivan and S.M. Sheffrin, Economics: Principles in Action, 2003, Prentice Hall, Page 246
7. C.M. Bruner, The Changing Face of Money, Review of Banking & Financial Law, 2010-2011, Volume 30, Pages 383-406
8. N. Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, 2009, Penguin Books
9. G.A. Stobbs, Business Method Patents, 2002, Aspen Publishers
10. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Denarius
11. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Great Recoinage of 1696
12. Ming-Hsun Li, The Great Recoinage of 1696-1699, 1963, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London
13. E. Oras, Importance of Terms: What is a Wealth Deposit?, Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 2012, Volume 22, Pages 61–82
14. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Hoxne Hoard
15. Historia, The Imperial Roman Economy, Hoarding, Gresham's Law and All That, www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/ de-basement/economy.html
16. L. Wolowski, Traictie de la Première Invention des Monnoies de Nicole Oresme, textes français et latin d'après les manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale, et Traité de la Monnoie de Copernic, texte latin et traduction française publiés et annotés, 1864, Guillaumin, Paris
17. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Nicole Oresme
18. La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri col comento del P. Baldassarre Lombardi, Volume III, 1830, L. Ciardetti, Firenze
19. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Philip IV of France
20. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Nicolaus Copernicus
21. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Quantity theory of money
22. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, Gresham College
23. G. Gunton, The Social Economist, New York, Institute of Social Economics, July/December 1894, Volume 7, Pages 17-21
24. L. Cossa, The Study of Political Economics, 1893, London and New York, Macmillan
25. A. Rees, The Cyclopaedia; Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, 1819, Volume 34, Longman, Hurst
26. R. de Roover, Gresham on Foreign Exchange, Cambridge, 1949, Harvard University Press
27. E. Lamond, The Date and Authorship of the ‘Examination of Complaints’ attributed to William Stafford, English Historical Review, 1891, Volume VI, Issue XXII, Pages 284-305
28. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, John Hales (politician)
29. A.F. Pollard, in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 53, Stafford, William (1554-1612)
30. William Stafford's Compendious Or Briefe Examination of Certayne Ordinary Complaints, by F.J. Furnivall, Published in 1876 by The New Shakspere Society
31. A.J. Rolnick and W.E. Weber, Grasham's Law or Gresham's Fallacy?, Federal reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review, Volume 10, Issue 1, Pages 17-24
32. R.L. Greenfield and H. Rockoff, Gresham's Law in Nineteenth-Century America, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 1995, Volume 27, Issue 4, Pages 1086-1098
33. M. Friedman and A.J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, 1963, Princeton University Press
34. F.R. Velde, W.E. Weber and R. Wright, A Model of Commodity Money, with Applications to Gresham's Law and the Debasement Puzzle, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Research Department Staff Report 215, 1997
35. I. Schnabel and Hyun Song Shin, The ‘Kipper- und Wipperzeit’ and the Foundation of Public Deposit Banks, 2006, annual_mtg_papers/2008/2008_258.pdf
36. Vv. Aa., Wikipedia, The Market for Lemons