• Table of Contents
    • Abstract
    • Keywords
    • Article
      • The nature of bimetallism
      • Advantages and disadvantages of bimetallism
      • Theories of bimetallic stabilization
      • Bimetallism prior to the 19th century
      • Bimetallic France in the 19th century
    • See Also
    • Bibliography
    • How to cite this article

bimetallism

Lawrence H. Officer
From The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition, 2008
Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume
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Abstract

A bimetallic monetary standard is a combination of two metallic standards, each of which could in principle stand alone. Bimetallism has advantages over monometallism; but can be an unstable system, with legal bimetallism becoming de facto monometallism. The Persian and Roman Empires practised bimetallism. England's de facto bimetallism was short-lived, and US bimetallism difficult to maintain. French bimetallism in 1815–73 stabilized the gold–silver market price ratio and also exchange rates among gold, silver, and bimetallic countries. Bimetallism ended in the 1870s.
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Keywords

bimetallic arbitrage; bimetallism; deflation; gold standard; Gresham's law; inflation; Latin Monetary Union; market ratio; mint ratio; monetary base; money supply; monometallism; seigniorage; silver standard; specie-flow mechanism
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Article

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How to cite this article

Officer, Lawrence H. "bimetallism." The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online. Palgrave Macmillan. 23 May 2013 <http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_B000137> doi:10.1057/9780230226203.0136

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