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Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) published his book
"De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres)" in 1543, shortly before his death, and made his mark in history with the Copernicus Revolution. Until then, a geocentric model was imagined. The heliocentric model was introduced by Copernicus. Science was at one of its turning points.
Eighteen centuries before Copernicus, in ancient Greece, an astronomer named Aristarchus (310-230 BC) also imagined the heliocentric model. He tried to measure the size of the Sun and Moon with his work
"On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon." He tried to compare the size of the Sun and the Moon with the size of the Earth. However, Aristarchus' findings were not as scientific and proof-based as Copernicus's due to the fact that the mathematical methods and tools available at Aristarchus' time were not sufficient to scientifically prove that the Earth was revolving around the Sun.
Science is a concept and a process which develops through research, measurements, calculations, and experiences. It took thousands of years for humanity to realize that we live in a system in which the Sun is at the center of the galaxy we live in. Progress was slow at first as many findings of science could not be passed on to next generations.
Copernicus, whose name is remembered in the history of the world with a revolution, is also very closely related to the quantity theory of money. Copernicus was concerned with economics and especially with money. The word “revolutionibus” used by Copernicus in astronomy has a great importance and value in economics. Copernicus' works on his ideas about money were written before the De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. The meaning of the word that can be used in economics and quantity theory is “circulation.” Copernicus wrote an essay called
"De Aestimatione Monetae (On the Value of Coin)" in 1517, long before the 1543 work on astronomy that revolutionized the history of science. He further developed the content in this essay with two more works in 1519:
“Tractatus de Monetis (Treatise on Coin)” and
“Modus Cudendi Monetam (The Way to Strike Coin).” The process finally ends with
"Monatea Cudendae Ratio (On the Minting of Coin)" in 1526.
Monatea Cudendae Ratio describes Gresham's Law, which would later be named after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579): bad money drives out good.
The principle that bad money drives out good money was discovered before Copernicus. Nicole Oresme (1320-1380), in his work
"De Origine, Natura, Jure et Mutationibus Monetarum (On the Origin, Nature, Law, and Alterations of Money)", discovered the principle long before Copernicus. However, Copernicus was unaware of Oresme's work.
It is possible to see the traces of Oresme's and Copernicus’ principles even in Aristophanes' (446-386 BC) play
“The Frogs.”
Copernicus found the relationships between money supply, the velocity of money, the price level, and the quantity of output. In other words, he discovered the quantity theory of money. Gresham's law, which will be named after him, explains the difference between the production cost of money and the value written on it.Coins include metals such as nickel, copper, and silver. Values such as 1, 5, 10 are written on coins. Seigniorage is defined as the difference between the value of the metals contained in coins and the value written on them.
“Good money” describes the situation in which the value (commodity value) of the metal or metal mixture contained in the coin exceeds the value (face value) written on that coin. “Bad money”, on the other hand, refers to the situation in which the value of the metal or metal mixture contained in the coin is below the value written on the coin.
Money has the function of a medium of exchange in the sale of goods and services. Price brings together the supply and demand over the value written on the coin. In case the value of the metal contained in the coin exceeds the value written on that coin, the society prefers to keep the good money in its pocket and tries to dispose of the bad coin whose value is below the value written on it. Thus, as good money is withdrawn from circulation, bad money in circulation increases. In other words, two currencies with different values cannot stay in circulation at the same time. Those who keep good money in their pockets also get “seigniorage income.”
Why is a monetary condition identified by Oresme and Copernicus before Gresham, was named after Grasham? The reason appears to be an error. The person who made the rule belong to Gresham in 1858 was Scottish economist . Numerous opinions emphasize that Henry Dunning Macleod made a mistake.
Copernicus wrote Monatea Cudendae Ratio at the request of King Sigismund I of Poland. Poland was in need of a stable currency. In order to reduce the cost of printing money, good and bad money was created with the use of less precious metals (debasement). Therefore, good money was shunned by bad money. Two coins of different value could not remain in circulation at the same time for the reasons mentioned above. Copernicus, identifying this situation, presented his findings to the king who desired to make a monetary reform.
England also had problems with the value of its money. Queen Elizabeth's father, Henry the 8
th (1491-1547), reduced the amount of silver contained in coins by 40% under a law he enacted. Gresham wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603), who ascended the throne in 1558, and tried to explain the negative developments concerning the English currency. Gresham, like Copernicus, expressed the same problem. The purpose of reducing the amount of valuable metal used in coins was to provide resources to the budget without increasing taxes. However, this aim has led to an unexpected result. Gresham, in a letter to the queen, criticized the law enacted by the queen's father. Bad money was keeping good money out of circulation.
Named after Gresham by mistake, the law changed direction over time. In modern economies, under conditions under which the national currency is constantly devalued and destabilized, high dollarization is a major problem and the use of another national currency as a medium of exchange is prohibited, assets with good value in the market are accepted and the national currency, which has become a bad currency, is avoided. In this case, the tendency to use alternative payment methods in the market (gold, the use of national currency by pricing the value of foreign currency, etc.) was increasing. So, there was a situation in which good money drives out bad money, which is called Thiers' Law. The law is named after the French politician Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877), but Adolphe Thiers was not the originator of the law named after him. A study by the French economist Peter Bernholz is attributed to Thiers.
History has also told that the increasing circulation of money creates inflation. Civilizations, which tried to reduce the production value of the coins in circulation by using lower precious metals to contribute to the public finances, saw inflation rising and had to cope with social unrest.
Why humanity in some countries try to prove the theories which have already been discussed and proved many times throughout history at the expense of paying a heavy price? In case a country prefers to stick to free market economy, is it not understood what kind of negative consequences non-market practices can have despite hundreds or even thousands of years of experience?
Artificial methods are the preferences of those who do not have a scientific background and do not know anything about history. Those methods never give the desired results.