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Coins, currencies, and credit instruments : Media of exchange in economic and social history

Lucassen, Jan and Zuijderduijn, Jaco LU (2014) In The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History / Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 11(3). p.1-13
Abstract

How, in historical societies, did people finalise transactions? Over the past few decades many economic and social historians have concerned themselves with this question, following the examples set by Douglass North and Craig Muldrew. Surprisingly, they have almost completely disregarded the most straightforward solution that historical societies had to offer, namely by using coins and currencies. Those scholars assumed, in part, that credit instruments were much more important in day-to-day trade. In this introduction we argue that studies into the unequal socioeconomic distribution of media of exchange - coins, currencies, and credit instruments - reveal mechanisms that are crucial to understanding broader social and economic... (More)

How, in historical societies, did people finalise transactions? Over the past few decades many economic and social historians have concerned themselves with this question, following the examples set by Douglass North and Craig Muldrew. Surprisingly, they have almost completely disregarded the most straightforward solution that historical societies had to offer, namely by using coins and currencies. Those scholars assumed, in part, that credit instruments were much more important in day-to-day trade. In this introduction we argue that studies into the unequal socioeconomic distribution of media of exchange - coins, currencies, and credit instruments - reveal mechanisms that are crucial to understanding broader social and economic processes. To this end, we discuss how the five articles in this special issue contribute to the growing literature on this topic.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History / Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis
volume
11
issue
3
pages
13 pages
publisher
International Institute of Social History
external identifiers
  • scopus:84923221997
ISSN
1572-1701
DOI
10.18352/tseg.143
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
93f88cea-0d08-4077-9896-7ca83e45e243
date added to LUP
2016-09-15 15:59:28
date last changed
2022-01-30 06:02:50
@article{93f88cea-0d08-4077-9896-7ca83e45e243,
  abstract     = {{<p>How, in historical societies, did people finalise transactions? Over the past few decades many economic and social historians have concerned themselves with this question, following the examples set by Douglass North and Craig Muldrew. Surprisingly, they have almost completely disregarded the most straightforward solution that historical societies had to offer, namely by using coins and currencies. Those scholars assumed, in part, that credit instruments were much more important in day-to-day trade. In this introduction we argue that studies into the unequal socioeconomic distribution of media of exchange - coins, currencies, and credit instruments - reveal mechanisms that are crucial to understanding broader social and economic processes. To this end, we discuss how the five articles in this special issue contribute to the growing literature on this topic.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lucassen, Jan and Zuijderduijn, Jaco}},
  issn         = {{1572-1701}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{1--13}},
  publisher    = {{International Institute of Social History}},
  series       = {{The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History / Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis}},
  title        = {{Coins, currencies, and credit instruments : Media of exchange in economic and social history}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.18352/tseg.143}},
  doi          = {{10.18352/tseg.143}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}