HKB
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Often appears with: trade, markets, and merchants · money, coin, and credit · value, price, and exchange · international trade · stone bridges · soochow suju · silk production · saint-lazare · relative prices · persia · palembang · language, naming, and meaning
Usually: detachment (4) · argument (2) · curiosity (2) · description (1) · list or catalogue (1) · narrative (1) · irony (1) · skepticism (1)
“To say that commodities are raised in price, is the same thing as to say that money is lowered in relative value; for it is by commodities that the relative value of gold is estimated.” David Ricardo, On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation · observation
“The clear and direct tendency of the poor laws, is in direct opposition to these obvious principles: it is not, as the legislature benevolently intended, to amend the condition of the poor, but to deteriorate the condition of both poor and rich;” David Ricardo, On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation · wit
“Everywhere the heart has the same duties: on the steps of the throne of God, if He has a throne; and in the depth of the abyss, if He is an abyss.” Voltaire, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary · insight
Ricardo argues that wage rises do not raise general commodity prices because the relative value of money adjusts through trade in gold (whether domestically produced or imported), and paper money must track gold.
of the argument, because it may be shewn, that whether it were found at home, or were imported from abroad, the effects ultimately and indeed immediately would be the same. When wages rise, it is generally because the increase of wealth and capital have occasioned a new demand for labour, which will infallibly be attended with an increased production of commodities. To circulate these additional commodities, even at…
He explains exchange-rate deviations when paper money expands beyond a gold-backed amount, showing that over-issue (or clipping) raises domestic prices without discouraging export trade through exchange compensation.
allotted to it by general commerce, if the trade in money had been free, and the precious metals had been used, either for money, or for the standard of money. If by the general operations of commerce, 10 millions of pounds sterling, of a known weight and fineness of bullion, should be the portion of England, and 10 millions of paper pounds were substituted, no effect would be produced on the exchange; but if by the…
Marco Polo describes Suju as a large, wealthy Manzi city of idolaters under the Great Kaan, with paper money, silk production, many philosophers and leeches, and about 6,000 stone bridges.
OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU. Suju is a very great and noble city. The people are Idolaters, subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they live by their manufactures and trade.{1} The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. In…
This passage is an alphabetical reference-style list of Marco Polo-related names and terms, including places and topics like Palembang, Paper Money, Persia, and Persian knowledge.
=Ondanique=, 19 Öngut, 62 Ormus; *see* Hormuz Oros, 129 =Ostriches=, 125 OTTEWILL, H. A., 85, 89, 90 Ouigour; *see* Uighúr =Oxen= of Tibet, Wild, 83 Oxus, 23, 37, 38, 41 PACHATURUNZA, 25 Pagan, 87, 88 *Pagan Yazawin*, 87 =P’ai tzŭ=, 67 Palembang, 106, 107 =Palladius=, 51, 52, 57, 81, 139 Pálor, 42 Pamier, 38; *see* Pamir Pamir, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40 PANDITA PRAKRAMA BAHU II., 111 Panjkora River, 22,…
Voltaire’s “Reason” vignette mocks John Law’s paper-money scheme: a rational man criticizes excessive notes and market manipulation, then he confronts Pope, Doge, and Ottoman mufti, each time being punished.
to Rome; he asked for a public audience of the Pope, on condition that he was not interrupted in his harangue; and he spoke to the Pope in these terms: "Holy Father, you are an antichrist and this is how I prove it to Your Holiness. I call antichrist the man who does the contrary to what Christ did and commanded. Now Christ was poor, and you are very rich; he paid tribute, and you exact tribute; he submitted to the …