Price revolution

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The term price revolution or Great Elizabethan Inflation describes a rise in the general price level that was observed throughout Europe during the 16th century and the associated decline in purchasing power . The term was coined by the economic historian Georg Wiebe in his work on the history of the price revolution of the XVI. and XVII. Century .

history

In the course of the 16th century the prices of individual goods rose three to four times. This corresponds to an annual inflation rate of less than 1.5%, which seems low from today's perspective. Since in many places contributions in kind had been replaced by fixed monetary payments that were not adjusted to the increased prices, the price increase for those earning fixed incomes led to significant losses in purchasing power in the medium to long term.

The increase in the price level occurred with regionally different intensities and did not affect all goods to the same extent. The prices of essential foods such as cereals (see table) were particularly hard hit.

Table:
Price increase of goods in Hamburg between 1511/20 and 1561/70 (in%)

Grain       274
Other food       161
Commercial products       118

Contemporary authors such as the French state theorist Jean Bodin attributed this inflationary process to the influx of precious metals from the New World and the deterioration in coins of the time. Modern research names the strong population growth, the increased speed of circulation of money as well as the large silver production rates of the southern German Saigerhüttenindustrie that are possible due to the advances in mining technology as further causes .

Pieper cites a redistribution of income in favor of recipients of flexible incomes and a drastic loss of income for employees in long-term employment as consequences of the price revolution.

literature

  • Renate Pieper: The Price Revolution in Spain, (1500–1640). Recent research results. Steiner-Verlag-Wiesbaden-GmbH, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-515-04570-8 ( Contributions to economic and social history 31), (At the same time: Cologne, Univ., Master's thesis, 1983).
  • Michael North (Ed.): Money circulation, currency systems and payment transactions in Northwest Europe 1300–1800. Contributions to the monetary history of the late Hanseatic period. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-412-00489-8 ( sources and representations on Hanseatic history NF 35).
  • Rainer Metz: Money, Currency and Price Development. The Lower Rhine area in a European comparison 1350–1800. Knapp, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-7819-0464-4 ( series of publications by the Institute for Bank History Research e. ​​V. 14), (also: Trier, Univ., Diss., 1989).
  • Hans-Jürgen Gerhard: Causes and consequences of the changes in the monetary system of the German Empire 1500–1625. A study on the background to the so-called price revolution. In: Eckart Schremmer (Ed.): Money and Currency from the 16th Century to the Present. Lectures at the 14th workshop of the Society for Social and Economic History from April 9 to 13, 1991 in Dortmund. Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06220-3 , pp. 69-84 ( quarterly for social and economic history. Supplements 106).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Based on North, Geldumlauf und Wirtschaftskonjektiven , p. 225.
  2. ^ Renate Pieper: Price revolution. In: Michael North (Ed.): From shares to customs. A historical lexicon of money. Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-38544-3 , pp. 313-315, here p. 315.