Crossword clues for bimetallism
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bimetallism \Bi*met"al*lism\, n. [F. bim['e]talisme.] The legalized use of two metals (as gold and silver) in the currency of a country, at a fixed relative value; -- in opposition to monometallism.
Note: The words bim['e]tallisme and monom['e]tallisme are due
to M. Cernuschi [1869].
--Littr['e].
Wiktionary
n. (context economics English) The use of a monetary standard based upon two different metals, traditionally gold and silver usually in a fixed ratio of values.
WordNet
n. a monetary standard under which the basic unit of currency is defined by stated amounts of two metals (usually gold and silver) with values set at a predetermined ratio
Wikipedia
In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent both to a certain quantity of gold and to a certain quantity of silver; such a system establishes a fixed rate of exchange between the two metals. The defining characteristics of bimetallism are:
- Both gold and silver money are legal tender in unlimited amounts.
- The government will convert both gold and silver into legal tender coins at a fixed rate for individuals in unlimited quantities. This is called free coinage because the quantity is unlimited, even if a fee is charged.
The combination of these conditions distinguishes bimetallism from a limping standard, where both gold and silver are legal tender but only one is freely coined (example: France, Germany, or the United States after 1873), or trade money where both metals are freely coined but only one is legal tender and the other is trade money (example: most of the coinage of western Europe from the 13th to 18th centuries.) Economists also distinguish legal bimetallism, where the law guarantees these conditions, and de facto bimetallism where both gold and silver coins actually circulate at a fixed rate.
Bimetallism was intended to increase the supply of money, stabilize prices, and facilitate setting exchange rates. Some authors, such as Angela Redish or Charles Kindleberger have argued that bimetallism was, by construction, unstable. Changes in gold-silver exchange were, in their eyes, leading to massive changes in the money supply. Bimetallism was thus inherently flawed, and the advent of the gold standard was inevitable. This view has been challenged by Friedman and Flandreau who wrote that the option to pay in gold or in silver had in fact a stabilizing effect.
Usage examples of "bimetallism".
The German Imperial Parliament passed a resolution, in June, 1895, in favor of Bimetallism, and the Prussian Parliament passed a resolution favoring an international bimetallic convention, provided England joined it, May 22, 1895.
If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has it.
The majority of the commission favored bimetallism but they demanded, first, the remonetization of the silver dollar.
American people, from tradition and interest, favor bimetallism, and the Republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money.
For ten years the question of a choice between a single standard or bimetallism, between free coinage or limited coinage of silver, was one of the principal economic problems of the world.
Both parties, however, could safely pronounce for bimetallism under international agreement, since there was little real prospect of procuring such an agreement.
There were, moreover, many other voters who, while regarding Greenbackism as an economic heresy, were convinced that bimetallism offered a safe and sound solution of the currency problem.
England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has it.
I am convinced that he really believed in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days a week for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear his views upon bimetallism, a subject upon which he was by way of being an authority.
In doing this we have never departed from the theoretical principle of bimetallism as announced by Hamilton and Washington and Webster and all our statesmen without exception down to 1869.
The battle for honest money would have been lost but for the wisdom of the Republican statesmen who planted the party not only upon the doctrine of theoretical bimetallism, but also upon the doctrine that the question of the standard of value must be settled by the concurrence of the commercial nations of the world and that if there were to be one metal as a standard, gold, the most valuable metal, was the fittest for the purpose.
Beside the fact that I thoroughly believed in the soundness of bimetallism, as I now believe in it, I thought we ought not to give our antagonists who were pressing us so hard, and appealing so zealously to every debtor and every man in pecuniary difficulties, the advantage, in debate before the people, of arraying on their side all our great authorities of the past.
I suggested to him that I had been authorized to say, by one or two gentlemen with whom I had talked, that, if he were willing, a deputation of the friends of Bimetallism would wait upon him, to whom he could express his opinion and purpose.
A Committee was thereupon appointed by John Sherman, President of the Caucus, to devise proper means for keeping the pledge of the National platform and establishing international bimetallism in concurrence with other nations.
The German Imperial Parliament passed a resolution, in June, 1895, in favor of Bimetallism, and the Prussian Parliament passed a resolution favoring an international bimetallic convention, provided England joined it, May 22, 1895.