Anchors Aweigh: The Transition from Commodity Money to Fiat Money in Western Economies

Angela Redish

Canadian Journal of Economics, 1993, vol. 26, issue 4, 777-95

Abstract: In this paper, the author argues that the transition from commodity money to fiat money in the 1970s was a less dramatic change than suggested by a first glance at monetary history or monetary theory. She shows that, historically, the quantity of the commodity-based money was at the discretion of the monetary authority and how, over time, the desire to economize on the commodity backing led to national and international institutions that reduced the extent to which money issues under the commodity standard represented an explicit claim to an intrinsically valuable asset.

Date: 1993
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