Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
986466 | Review of Economic Dynamics | 2006 | 16 Pages |
Abstract
There is wide agreement that currency was not available in conveniently small denominations prior to the 19th century. Here, estimates of the costs of providing and maintaining money (coins) in 15th century Europe and parameterized versions of a matching model of money are used to find the optimal degree of divisibility. Although the optima are sensitive to the specification of the matching model, the optimal sizes we find agree in order of magnitude with the sizes of the most common coins in 15th century Europe.
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Social Sciences and Humanities
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
Economics and Econometrics
Authors
Manjong Lee, Neil Wallace,