The Primary Cause of European Inflation in 1500-1700: Precious Metals or Population? The English Evidence

Jacques Melitz and Anthony Edo

No 14023, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We perform the first econometric test to date of the influences of inflows of precious metals and population growth on the “Great Inflation†in Europe following the discov-ery of the New World. The English evidence strongly supports the near-equivalent im-portance of both influences. For 1500-1700, silver is the only relevant precious metal in the estimates. The study controls for urbanization, government spending, mortality crises and climatic changes. The series for inflows of the precious metals into Europe from America and European mining are newly constructed based on the secondary sources.

Keywords: The “great inflation; †demography; Precious metals; European economic history 1500-1700 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E31 F00 J10 N13 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-mac and nep-mon
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Working Paper: The Primary Cause of European Inflation in 1500-1700: Precious Metals or Population? The English Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: The Primary Cause of European Inflation in 1500-1700: Precious Metals or Population? The English Evidence (2019)
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