Some Doubts about the Economic Analysis of the Flow of Silver to China in 1550–1820

Jacques Melitz

Open Economies Review, 2019, vol. 30, issue 1, No 5, 105-131

Abstract: Abstract The paper takes issue with the mainstream economic analysis of the enormous flow of silver into China in 1550–1820. First, I challenge the view that arbitrage between gold and silver in European trade with China was important except for one twenty-year spell. Next, I argue that had China imported gold, its history would have been much the same. I also dispute the idea that the persistence of the silver inflows from 1550 to 1820 implies any persistent disequilibrium, and I maintain that economic theory can easily accommodate the view that the inflow of silver into China sponsored growth in China.

Keywords: Silver flows into China 1550–1820; Silver/gold exchange rates; Transaction costs in international trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F36 F41 N1 N15 N25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Working Paper: Some Doubts about the Economic Analysis of the Flow of Silver to China in 1550-1820 (2017)
Working Paper: Some doubts about the economic analysis of the flow of silver to China in 1550-1820 (2017)
Working Paper: Some doubts about the economic analysis of the flow of silver to China in 1550-1820 (2017)
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DOI: 10.1007/s11079-018-9506-z

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