Circulación monetaria, intervención pública y arbitrismo en el reino de Aragón durante el siglo XVII

Abstract

This paper studies monetary circulation in the kingdom of Aragon during the seventeenth century as well as public intervention and economic debate on this matter. Increasing market demand of currency with lesser metallic content prompted the irruption of counterfeit local coins and foreign currency. These monetary flows facilitated commercial transactions, but had some negative effects on the economy and generated disputes between public institutions about the advisability of decreasing the intrinsic value of local coins during the second half of the century. The failure of the monetary debate during the last quarter of the century effectively stopped the Aragonese autonomous monetary policies to help economic recovery and facilitate the increasing intervention of the State during the eighteenth century.