Lucrezia Reichlin, Adair Turner, Michael Woodford
The COVID-19 pandemic forces swept away some of the conventional taboos in economic thinking, such as the radical idea of helicopter money (Benigno and Nisticò 2020, Cukierman 2020, Galì 2020, Yashiv 2020, Kapoor and Buiter 2020, Velasco et al. 2020). The term uses the fanciful imagery that was originally invented by Milton Friedman (1968). Since the end of the 1990s, Friedman’s idea has received more attention in academia and policy circles.
Precedents to the unprecedented
But what we today refer to as ‘unprecedented’ monetary policies can often have historical precedents (Ugolini 2020). In a recent paper (Goodhart et al. 2021), we wonder whether the economic policy implemented during the years 1629-1631, when the Republic of Venice fought first a famine and then a pandemic, can be considered an historical case of helicopter money. In its relationship with the role of the state, money circulation and banking, the Venetia
The Medieval English Coins of the Wars of the Roses
The late medieval monarchies of Europe were fundamentally fragile and prone to civil disorder. Political stability and harmony depended ultimately on the personal capacity of individual kings. In the second half of the fifteenth century, the western kingdoms all endured upheaval and civil war as a result of disputed, ineffective or overbearing rule…
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France, the English king
Henry V died suddenly on August 31, 1422 at the age of 35, leaving an infant son of the same name. Unlike his father,
Henry VI proved to be timid, mentally unstable, and utterly incapable of ruling his troubled kingdom.