2004/01/01 by François R. Velde, Francois R. Velde · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Fiscal Policies and Political Economy #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Historical Economic and Social Studies
paper · doi:10.2139/ssrn.486983
crossref issued 2004/01/01 · crossref published 2004/01/01 · openalex publication_date 2004/01/01 · crossref created 2005/07/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/07/27 · crossref indexed 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
John Law's System was a radical restructuring of French public finances, carried out from 1716 to 1720. It involved on the one hand a conversion of the existing French public debt into something like government equity, on the other hand the replacement of commodity money with fiat money. For strategic reasons, Law supported the equity at too high a level, resulting in uncontrolled money creation. The System ended with the recreation of a public debt at, surprisingly, the same level as before.