Charts: A History of Prices
Contents
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
Stock Prices
Interest Rates
Commodity Prices
The Gold Price
The Oil Price
The U.S. Dollar
Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages
Stock Prices
Interest Rates
Commodity Prices
The Gold Price
Part III. Markets Since the Dawn of Civilisation
Interest Rates
Commodity Prices
Updated to end-2014
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
Stock Prices
12/2014
18103
Global credit
bubble
Dow Jones Industrial Average (extended), 1789 to date
10/2007
14198
15855
10/2014
1/2000
11750
Monthly bars
Tech
boom
Log scale
End of
Cold War
Mergermania:
super-conglomerates,
1980’s
Roaring 20’s
Exchanges from 1790
37.1
11/1873
5/1847
24.8
1/1906
103.0
16.3
1/1829
419.8
10/1957
Vietnam War, Oil shocks
Stagflation
255.5
9/1953
Korean War
161.6
6/1949
World War II
63.9
8/1921
53.0
12/1914
42.2
11/1903
World War I
34.0
7/1893
41.2
7/1932
Great Depression
28.7
8/1896
SpanishAmerican War
19.1
10/1848
17.4
6/1837
808.6
8/1982
631.2
5/1970 577.6
12/1974
99.0
92.9
3/1938
4/1942
10/1892
53.6
25.3
6/1877
14.9
1/1820
Long Depression
12.4
10/1857
4/1795
7.1
Civil War
9.7
1/1843
1/1792
5.8
4.3
12/1789
39.2
1/1885
198.7
11/1929
12/1919
11/1916 107.2
110.2
4/1899
77.3
53.0
11/1907
12/1852
32.9
10/1800
9.3
6.9
3/1813
5.0
11/1797
6/1881
61.0
7/1869
48.9
Era of Good
Feelings
8/1806
11.8
Progressive Era
3/1937
194.4
9/1939
152.5
5/1946
212.5
4/1981
1024
1087
7/1984
535.8
6/1962
1/1953
293.8
New
Deal
Mergermania:
mass-production
1916-1929
Mergermania:
monopolies, trusts
1887-1904
Post-War
boom
9/1929
381.2
1/1973
1052
12/1961
734.9
4/1956
521.0
3/1864
42.4
U.S. companies from 1781
2/1966
995.1
Mergermania:
conglomerates
1954-1968
Reconstruction
9/1824
22.5
Wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan
2354
10/1990
11/1983 1616
1287 10/1987
Gilded Age
8/1835
36.6
6470
3/2009
Global Financial
Crisis
3552
4/1994
8/1987
2737
1792 Run on First Bank of the United States
1797 Land bubble burst. Bank run in England
1807 Jefferson’s Embargo Act: restriction of trade with Britain
1819 Land bubble burst. Tightening by Second Bank of U.S.
1825 EM (partic. LatAm) bubble burst in London
1837 Cotton and land bubbles burst. Tightening by BoE
1847 Collapse of railway boom in London (following Bank Charter Act)
1857 Global market panic; railway bubble; failure of Ohio Life
1866 London: failure of Overend Gurney
1869 Black Friday in NY: collapse of Gould and Fisk gold speculation
1873 Railroad bubble; Jay Cooke failure; end of silver coinage. Initiated Long Depression
1877 Great Railroad Strike
1884 Tightening by NYC national banks; bank failures in NY
1893 Railroad bubble burst, bank failures, run on gold reserves; Sherman Silver Act
1896 Run on silver reserves; commodity price declines; National Bank of Illinois failure
1901 Cornering of Northern Pacific Railway stock
1907 Bankers’ Panic: Cornering of United Copper Co; failure of Knickerbocker Trust Co
1913 Drain of gold reserves to Europe in WWI
1929 Wall Street Crash/ Black Tuesday.: collapse of 20’s boom. Initiated Great Depression
1937 Monetary and fiscal tightening following New Deal: renewed downturn
1942 Response to Japanese/German successes in WWII
1962 Kennedy Slide/ Flash Crash
1973 Oil crisis, and aftermath of Nixon dollar devaluation
1987 Black Monday: global market crash, collapse of speculative boom
2001 Tech bubble burst; 9/11 attacks
2008 Global financial crisis, subprime bubble burst
7400 7197
9/1998 10/2002
1/1994
3986
Reagan
era
Market panics:
10404
10/2011
Mexican War
5.6
10/1807
Hungry Forties
War of 1812
Revolutionary
War
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
Interest Rates
Yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries, 1791 to date
Monthly bars
Linear scale
Stagflation
9/1981
15.84
5/1984
13.95
2/1980
13.65
Revolution:
Continental Congress debt
issued 1776, defaulted 1783-7
Vietnam War,
Oil shocks
Federal refunding 1790
Restructuring of states’ debts
by Alexander Hamilton
1791
8.57
10/1987
10.23
10.12
5/1983
War of 1812
5/1970
8.22
9/1975
8.59
11/1994
8.03
1814
7.64
Civil War
Mexican War
1/2000
6.83
1861
6.45
1842
6.07
World War I
6.80
12/1976
4/1920
5.67
Federal debt
retired 1835,
until 1842
6.02
1802
SpanishAmerican War
1878
3.97
4.25
1824
3.17
3/1928
2.13
1889
2.22
1899
Federal Reserve
founded 1913
Fed buying of
bonds 1932/33
From 1861 to 1918: yields depressed by national
bank and then Treasury buying of bonds
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
12/1942
2.49
1910
1920
1930
5.17
10/1993
4/2010
4.01
4.16
10/1998
1/2014
3.05
3.78
4/1962
3.07
6/2003
2.88
4/1958
2.08
Great
Depression
6/2007
5.32
5.38
3/1971
4.50
3/1967
6/1953
3.11
3.75
8/1918
3.30
1875
Long Depression
1/1960
4.72
1/1932
4.26
1896
3.06
Hungry
Forties
8/1966
5.51
World War II
4.02
1853
6.92
8/1986
2.29
4/1954
2.04
12/2008
1.85 4/1946
11/1941
1.86
10/2014
1.38
7/2012
Global Financial Crisis,
Quantitative Easing
Fed yield targeting
sub-2.5% from 4/1942
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
Commodity Prices
Continuous Commodity Index (extended), 1770 to date
Monthly bars
4/2011
691.1
7/2008
615.0
Log scale
4/2014
569.7
446.9
12/2014
Stagflation
11/1980
337.6
Oil shock
Vietnam War,
oil shock
6/1988
272.2
2/1974
237.8
10/2000
234.4
184.7
8/1977
196.2
7/1986
198.2
8/1992
2/1951
138.3
Revolution:
Inflation, collapse of
Continental currency
World War I
Civil War
1779
102.2
322.5
12/2008
4/1996
263.8
182.7 182.8
7/1999 10/2001
Recession
6/1948
126.4
11/1963
112.1
7/1920
111.2
8/1864
100.7
War of 1812
96.5
12/1960
1814
82.3
7/1925
73.0
96.4
95.2 10/1971
8/1968
World War II
1796
66.0
3/1937
60.3
Mexican
War
1837
52.0
3/1857
51.5
52.0
1808
6/1882
49.7
SpanishAmerican War
4/1910
47.9
54.4
6/1921
1847
40.7
46.3
1821
44.5
8/1939
43.3
10/1914
40.7
1834
38.4
1792
33.9
1775
55.9
8/1871
38.0
6/1879
37.1
7/1861
33.9
1843
Depression
California
gold from
1848
35.4
6/1886
Gold inflows
32.4
2/1933
29.5
6/1897
Hungry Forties
Great Depression
Long Depression
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
The Gold Price
U.S. dollars per troy ounce, 1792 to date
9/2011
1920.7
Monthly bars
Global Financial Crisis,
Quantitative Easing
Log scale
7/2014
1346.8
3/2008
1033.9
1/1980
873.0
1130.4
11/2014
681.0
10/2008
11/1987
502.3
Stagflation
2/1996
417.5
325.8
3/1993
281.2
2/1985
Vietnam War,
Oil shocks
252.5 255.0
8/1999 2/2001
2/1975
186.2
102.8
8/1976
Civil War
Breakdown of
Bretton Woods
1864
46.36
5/1969
43.46
Breakdown of the
gold standard
Revolution: Collapse of
Continental currency
1935
34.84
U.S. Dollar introduced:
Coinage Act 1792
34.94
1/1970
War of 1812
Floating: currency delinked from gold
1815
22.16
Bretton Woods 1944
European fx convertibility 1955-58
Bretton Woods collapse 1968-71
Gold window closed 8/1971
Bretton Woods
20.67
1861
19.39
1834
19.39
1792
Greenbacks
Bimetallic Standard
Gold Standard
Coinage Act 1873
(end of link to silver)
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
20.67
1932
20.67
1879
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
Gold Standard Act 1900
1890
1900
1910
Great Depression
$ devalued 4/1933
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
The Oil Price
U.S. dollars per barrel, 1860 to date
Monthly bars
7/2008
147.27
Log scale
5/2011
114.83
Iraq War
7/2006
78.40
Gulf War I
Iranian
Revolution
10/1990
41.15
12/1996
26.80
13.75
12/1993
1/1975
7.61
1864
8.06
World War I
Operation
Ajax
10.35
12/1998
3.56
7/1973
1/1948
2.57
OPEC
formed
1960
World War II
9.75
4/1986
Six Day
War
1920
3.07
SpanishAmerican War
32.40
12/2008
16.70
11/2001
Yom Kippur War,
Arab oil embargo
Civil War
52.44
12/2014
9/2000
37.80
3/1981
34.59
OAPEC
formed
1967
1895
1.36
1937
1.18
Global oilfield discoveries peak 1965
U.S. production peak 1970
Global production per capita peak 1979
Global reserves peak (production > discoveries) 1980
Global production peak approx 2010-20
e.g. Kuwait 2013, Saudi 2014, Iraq 2018
1.05
1945
First oil well in
the U.S. 1859
0.49
1860
0.67
1933
0.64
1915
0.56
1892
Great Depression
Long Depression
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part I. American Markets Since Independence
The U.S. Dollar
U.S. Dollar Index (extended), 1792 to date
Monthly bars
2/1985
164.72
Log scale
Reagan/
Volcker
Plaza
Accord
9/1969
123.82
1956
122.2
7/2001
121.02
6/1976
107.60
6/1989
106.56
Vietnam War,
oil shock
Breakdown of
Bretton Woods
3/2009 12/2014
90.33
89.62
90.54
7/1973
1950
82.1
Breakdown of the
gold standard
2/1994
97.10
82.07
10/1978
81.1
1954
85.33
12/1987
80.05
78.19 4/1995
9/1992
War of 1812
Revolution: Collapse of
Continental currency
1812
63.5
1932
65.5
1920
62.8
U.S. Dollar introduced:
Coinage Act 1792
80.39
12/2004
World
War II
78.91
5/2014
72.70
70.70 5/2011
3/2008
1940
60.0
Global Financial Crisis,
Quantitative Easing
World
War I
57.0
1948
1861
48.2
1881
47.6
48.4
1794
47.2
1930
46.6
1914
45.5
1934
44.0
1816
Great Depression
Bimetallic Standard
Bretton Woods
Gold Standard
Greenbacks
$ linked to gold
(end to bimetallic system):
Coinage Act 1873
Gold Standard Act 1900
23.0
1864
£ leaves 1914
rejoins 1925
leaves 1931
$ devalued 1933
Free floating exchange rates
Bretton Woods 1944
European fx convertibility 1955-58
Bretton Woods collapse 1968-71
Currencies floated 5/1971
Gold window closed 8/1971
Carter Dollar Rescue Plan 11/78
Plaza Accord 9/1985
Louvre Accord 2/1987
Civil War
1770
1780
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages
Stock Prices
2014
18103
Composite index: Genoa 1509-1602, Holland 1602-1693, England 1693-1789, U.S. 1789 to date
2000
11750
Yearly bars
Log scale
6470
2009
Global
Financial
Crisis
1965
995.1
Market panics:
1929
381.2
1557 Spanish-Habsburg bankruptcy
1621 Kipper-und-Wipperzeit (start of Thirty Years’ War)
1672 Disaster Year: invasion of Holland by France and England
1696 English government credit crisis (war with France)
1720 South Sea Bubble (and Mississippi Bubble)
1761 Crisis in American colonies over Navigation Acts
1769 Bengal Bubble (British East India Co)
1772 Credit Crisis (Britain & U.S.)
1792 Collapse of First Bank of the United States
577.6
1974
Stagflation
1919
119.6
1881
61.0
For later dates see monthly chart
92.9
1942
1835
36.6
41.2
1932
South Sea
Bubble
32.0
1896
1720
12.5
Dutch
Independence
1649
4.9
Bengal
Bubble
Glorious
Revolution
1671 1688
5.2
5.1
1752
5.0
1806
11.8
4.1
1726
1612
2.3 1621
2.1
Bank of St George, bankers to Spanish Crown, founded
1407, shares traded in Genoa from 1509: perpetual
annuities issued by Republic of Genoa, paying
dividends varying with profits of the bank
2.2
1672
1585
0.6
Dutch East India Co. (VOC) shares traded from 1602;
establishment of Amsterdam Stock Exchange
0.6
1597
1509
0.3
England: East India Co. shares traded from 1688;
establishment of London Stock Exchange
1.3
1626
1.0
1618
Thirty
Years’
War
2.3
1696
Wars Vs.
France
Disaster
year
3.2
1761
Seven
Years
War
Wall St Crash,
Great Depression
12.4
1857
1767
5.5
8.9
1842
5.6
1807
From 12th century: evolution of joint-stock companies
from merchants’ guilds: Partnerships in maritime trading
companies in Italy from c.1150.
Long
Depression
U.S. Civil
War
Hungry
Forties
3.1
1783
Depression
American and
French Revolutions
Anglo-Dutch
Wars
U.S. shares traded from 1781, listed on New York Stock
Exchange from 1790
0.2
1555
Financial crisis:
Spanish default
1050
1100
1150
1200
1250
1300
1350
1400
1450
1500
1550
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000
2050
Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages
Interest Rates
Yields on long-term sovereign debt: Venice 1285-1509, Holland 1550-1693, England 1694-1797, U.S. 1798 to date
Yearly bars
Linear scale
Italian cities
c.1150
c. 20.00
Venice
1440
20.00
Defeat to
Turks
Venice
1467
17.39
10th & 11th centuries:
Rise of Italian city-states;
Venetian independence from
Constantinople; control of
Mediterranean trade by Venice,
Genoa, Pisa, Florence
U.S.
1981
15.84
Series of wars with Turks:
decline of Venetian power
War of Chioggia
with Genoa
From 12th century:
evolution of bond markets
from census:
Stagflation
War of the League
of Cambrai
Venice
1385
13.16
Venice
1509
12.50
Census (perpetual annuity)
issues by cities in Italy and
the Netherlands
Forced loans issued:
Genoa 1152, Venice 1171
Dutch
Republic:
perpetual
annuities
War with
Genoa
Genoa, c.1200, limit on
commercial lending rate: 20%
Refunding of English
debt by Bank of
England 1694
Wars Vs France
Dutch War of
Independence
(Eighty Years War)
England
1701
9.92
Refunding of
U.S. federal
debt: 1790
Anglo-Dutch Wars
Venice
1299
8.38
Florence: rate on public debt
declined from 15% to 10% in
13th century
Holland
1572
8.13
Disaster
Year
Venice
1356
7.13
Tradable bond issued:
Venice prestiti in 1264:
Monte Vecchio
6.25
1495
Venice
5.97
1423
Venice
4.88
1344
Venice
Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci, 1202, introduced
Hindu-Arabic numeric system and arithmetic
(e.g. .fractions) to western Europe, enabling
calculations of profit and interest
U.S.
1814
7.64
Holland
1672
7%+
6.63
1285
Venice
War of
1812
American
Revolution
Seven
Years War
6.17
1570
Holland
World War I
U.S.
1920
5.67
England
1761
4.51
4.25
1824
U.S.
3.00
1679
Holland
16th century: series of defaults by
Spanish (Hapsburg) and French
(Bourbon) crowns: e.g. Philip II ,
1557, 1560, 1575, 1596
First recorded traded bond yield, in 1285 = 6.63%
U.S.
1861
6.45
England
1784
5.32
New issue of
prestiti in 1492:
Monte Nuovo
1340’s: financial crisis: default
by Edward III, collapse of
Florentine banks (Bardi,
Peruzzi), rise of Venice as
financial power
Civil War
2.81
1737
England
Dutch state bonds
traded on Amsterdam
exchange from 1672
3.31
1791
England
2.13
1889
U.S.
South Sea
Bubble
1.85
1941
U.S.
Great
Depression
Average yield since 1285 = 6.50%
1050
1100
1150
1200
World War II
1250
1300
1350
1400
1450
1500
1550
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
1.38
2012
U.S.
Global
Financial
Crisis
2000
2050
Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages
Commodity Prices
Composite index: England 1170-1792, U.S. 1792 to date
2011
691.1
Yearly bars
Log scale
1980
337.6
WWI
American
Civil War
Napoleonic
Wars
French
Revolution
General Crisis of the 17th Century
Famine 1640s
War Vs Philip II
1814
82.3
1649
43.9
1596
32.6
37.1
1786
Crisis of the Late Middle Ages:
collapse of Medieval economy
1316
10.6
1205
6.0
1438
9.9
1527
9.9
1482
8.7
Peasants’
Revolt
5.8
1394
4.5
1287
4.3
1235
Gold from
Crusades
1369
9.3
4.8
1338
6.2
1462
Silver mining crises,
gold outflows to the
East
Collapse of wool trade,
Edward III default,
banking collapse,
HY War start
Silver famine: drain
of specie via Venice
to Middle East
Depression
33.9
1843
Hungry
Forties
Depression
Gold from Brazil,
expansion in copper
coin and paper credit
29.5
1897
Long
Depression
32.4
1933
Great
Depression
Shift to paper money
backed by gold
Decline in silver inflows
from Americas, outflows
to Asia and Baltic
14.5
1565
Wars of
the Roses
Flood of silver from
Peru and Mexico
1274
6.0
Third
Crusade
Revolt of
1173-74
Hundred Years’ War
1351
8.1
First
Barons’
War
23.9
1627
1555
18.1
Depression
Black
Death
Crop failures
1202-05
29.7
1730
28.0
1666
Scottish Wars
End of Bretton
Woods: break
with gold
1772
1756 42.6
32.0
1693
40.4
Wars of Religion
Crop failures: Great
Famine 1314-17
95.2
1968
U.S.
Seven
Years Revol’n
War
Wars Vs
Louis XIV
Famine 1590s
Henry VIII ‘Great
Debasement’
1920
111.2
1864
100.7
1796
66.0
English
Civil War
182.7
1999
1951
138.3
6.1
1509
Silver & gold from the
New World to Europe
Silver mining boom in
central Europe, gold
from West Africa
2.0
1170
Silver famine
until c.1125
1050
1100
Silver mining boom in Europe,
e.g. in England under Henry II.
Increase in volume of trade:
chartered fairs etc.
1150
1200
1250
1300
1350
1400
1450
1500
1550
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000
2050
Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages
The Gold Price
Sterling price converted to Dollars 1257-1791, Dollar price 1792 to date
2011
1921
Yearly bars
Global Financial Crisis,
Quantitative Easing
Log scale
1980
873
Stagflation
253
1999
U.S. Civil War
(Greenbacks)
1860’s
Bretton Woods
collapse 1971
1864
46.4
English Gold
sovereign 1817
Wars against
Louis XIV
New gold
coinage 1663
Henry VIII
“Great Debasement”,
1/3 silver, 2/3 copper
de facto default
James I
devaluation
Charles II
devaluation
17.1
1660
13th century: re-introduction of gold
coinage to Europe form the East.
Byzantine and Arabic gold coins
circulated.
English Gold penny introduced by
Henry III in 1257. Noble: first gold
coin produced in quantity, in 1344 by
Edward III.
International currency:
Florence florin 1252
Venice ducat 1284
1050
1100
1150
Edward IV
devaluation
Edward III
default and
devaluations
Henry III
devaluation
Edward VI
devaluation
Henry IV
devaluation
6.2
1408
9.2
1525
1696
20.4
19.4
1813
18.6
1688
£ Gold
Standard
20.6
1932
20.7
1861
$ Bimetallic
Standard
$ Gold
Standard
Bretton
Woods
Free
floating
1950
2000
10.5
1543
6.8
1463
Official gold standard:
Britain 1816, U.S. 1873, ended 1931
Pound = 4.85 U.S. Dollars
£ = fixed weight of gold, 1696,
Gold as legal tender alongside silver 1717,
restriction of silver use, effective gold standard 1774
4.9
1342
1250
34.9
1970
1815
22.2
14.0
1603
4.1
1263
1200
Napoleonic
Wars
William III
devaluation
Paper banknotes from 1633
Bank of England founded 1694: issuer of paper money
1300
1350
1400
1450
1500
1550
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
2050
Part III. Markets Since the Dawn of Civilisation
Interest Rates
Lending rates in Mesopotamia 3000 BC-600 BC, in Greece and Rome 600 BC-300 AD; Yields on Western government bonds 1150 to date
Decennial bars
Linear scale
From c. 3000 BC: use of metals as money by weight in
Mesopotamia. Temples as proto-banks: repositories of
wealth, lending at interest
Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages:
easing of prohibitions on usury, rise of
banking and state finance in Italy and the
Netherlands; evolution of bond markets from
census annuities
Ancient Sumer: Custom of 1 shekel per mina per month = 20%;
Rates of 25% recorded (also: India: Laws of Manu, 24%)
Ur: financial centre of Sumer until
crash of 1788 BC caused by
cancellation of debts under Rim-Sin
Italian cities
c.1150
20%
Dark Ages in the West:
Anti-usury laws,
e.g. Capitularies of
Charlemagne 814 AD
Babylon: Code of Hammurabi, 1772 BC,
Codified earlier Sumerian custom of 20%.
Average rates of 10-25% recorded
through Old Babylonian, Assyrian and
Neo-Babylonian iterations, until Persian
conquest 539 BC, then rates of 40+%
Venice
1430s
20.00
Adoption of Near
Eastern financial
practices by Greek
city states
3rd/4th century Rome:
5th century Greece:
inflation, fiscal crisis
spread of coined money and
Athens
credit; freeing of hoarded
600 BC
capital
for
productive
loans
16%
Rome
(after Persian Wars, silver
300 AD
discoveries at Laurion)
15+% (?)
Debt crisis in Archaic Greece:
usurious loans, payment in
kind, debt servitude; until
Sulla 88 BC
Solon’s reforms, 594 BC
Limit 100th /mth = 12%
Origins of interest rates:
Natural multiplying of borrowed livestock via reproduction:
hence words for interest in ancient languages: Sumerian
mash = calf, Greek tokos = calf, Latin pecus = flock,
Egyptian ms = give birth.
Uruk, “city of sheepfolds”, pastoral agricultural economy;
had a numerical and writing system for quantifying and
recording contracts, and the Mesopotamian calendar
system for recording time in lunar months and solar years.
State bankruptcy
during Social War
90 BC and civil
wars 49-31 BC
Credit
crisis
33 AD
Eastern (Byzantine) Empire:
Constantine, 325 AD, limit 12.5%;
Code of Justinian 528 AD, limit 8%;
850 AD limit raised to 11.5%
373 BC: Defaults
by Greek states
on loans at Delos
Early rates of interest determined by the standard units of
quantity and time, e.g. 1 shekel per mina per month = 20%
p.a. in Babylon (Code of Hammurabi), 1 ounce per pound
per year = 8.33 % p.a. in Rome (Twelve Tables).
U.S.
1980s
15.84
England
1700s
9.92
Greece: Temple at Delos
From c.500 BC, 10%
Holland
1570s
8.13
Rome: Twelve Tables 443 BC
Limit 1 oz/lb/year = 8.33%
U.S.
1810s
7.64
8%
300-200 BC
Athens/Rome
6.25
1490s
Venice
Rome
100 AD
5%
Roman expansion:
inflows of silver &
gold, falling rates
4.88
1340s
Venice
4%
1 AD
Rome
3.00
1670s 2.81
Holland 1730s
England
Expansion of coinage under
Julius Caesar and Augustus.
Reduction under Tiberius:
credit crisis in 33 AD
-3000
-2800
-2600
-2400
-2200
-2000
-1800
-1600
-1400
-1200
-1000
-800
-600
-400
-200
1
200
1.85
1940s
U.S.
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
1.38
2010s
U.S.
2000
2200
Part III. Markets Since the Dawn of Civilisation
Commodity Prices
Composite indices: Babylon 1840 BC-1620 BC, Greece 500 BC-250 BC, Rome 250 BC-300 AD, England 1170-1790, U.S. 1790 to date
2010s
Decennial bars
Log scale
World
Wars
Napoleonic
wars
1810s
General crisis of
the 17th century
De-linking
of currency
and gold
1640s
Acceleration of inflation after Diocletian's
Prices Edict of 301 and Constantine’s
recoinage 324, until Julian’s reforms, 360.
Rapid expansion of copper coinage for military
pay and treasury buying of gold; but price
deflation vs gold solidus. Copper/silver
currency abandoned after Theodosius, 395.
New coinages under Gothic successors, e.g.
Odoacer 480, reformed by Justinian 550s
1930s
1720s
Crisis of the Late
Middle Ages
1200s
1500s
Crises of the 3rd & 4th
centuries: wars Vs.
Persians, Goths
Environmental decline
of grain-producing Roman
colonies in North Africa
1330s
Viking/Norman
invasions
Migration period:
collapse of western
Roman empire
“Peak Bronze”: shortage
of tin from c.1200 BC
Environmental decline of
Tigris-Euphrates lowlands
from c.2200 BC
1750-1550 BC: fall of
Babylonian empire, Egypt
Middle Kingdom, Minoans
2200-2000 BC: collapse
of Sumer (Akkad, Ur III)
and Egypt Old Kingdom
4th millennium BC:
Emergence of Bronze Age
civilisations in Mesopotamia
and Egypt
1840 BC
From c. 3000 BC: use of metals as
money by weight in Mesopotamia:
copper, bronze and silver ingots;
units of grains, livestock traded in
units of money (shekel, mina)
-3000
-2800
-2600
1720 BC
-2400
Babylon: Code of
Hammurabi 1772 BC:
standardised weights and
terms of transactions
(preceded by crash of
1788; followed by
crisis/civil war from 1750)
-2200
-2000
wars
1200-1000 BC: “Bronze Age
Collapse” of Mycenae, Hittite
empire, Egypt New Kingdom
International Age:
height of Bronze
Age civilisations
Dark Ages
Emergence of Iron Age
cultures; rise of Greek
polis and colonisation
Pelop’n
war
Persian
wars
Gold,
Silver
500 BC
from
Spread of Persia
coinage
260 AD
210 BC
160 AD
320 BC
60 AD
Commercial Revolution
of the Middle Ages
Frankish/Saxon coinages from c.550.
New silver currencies under
Charlemagne 768 and Offa 785.
Emergence of market economy, e.g.
in England from Alfred 871 to Edgar
975, followed by increase in money
supply (incl. Danegeld)
Civil wars
100 AD
Age of Discovery:
European expansion
1170s
Silver mining
boom, crusades
Dark Ages
220 AD
30 BC
Silver & gold
from New World
300 AD
Roman tri-metallic system: bronze currency
from 3rd century BC, silver from 2nd Punic
War, gold introduced by Caesar. Reductions
in silver content of denarius: to 90% by Nero,
85% by Trajan, 75% by Marcus Aurelius,
50% by Severus, 5% by Aurelian, 0.02% at
end of 3rd century, i.e. silver-plated copper
coin. Acceleration of inflation after Aurelius
and again after Aurelian
2nd Punic
Alexander’s War
Industrial Revolution
1310s
Gold
from
Dacia
Approx seven-fold
increase in silver
coinage from 240 to
270; then recoinage
under Aurelian
Silver
from Reduction in
Gaul coinage under
Silver
Tiberius, expansion
from
from Nero onward
Hispania
Roman expansion
Coined money in Lydia c.685 BC; in
Greece c.625 BC; Athenian drachma
devalued by 33% under Solon’s reforms
594 BC (exit from “Aegina standard”).
Spread of money after Persian Wars
and silver discovery at Laurion, 482 BC
1620 BC
1740 BC
-1800
-1600
-1400
-1200
-1000
-800
-600
-400
-200
1
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200