@TechReport{CEPII:2017-19,
author={Jacques Melitz},
title={Some Doubts about the Economic Analysis of the Flow of Silver to China in 1550-1820},
year=2017,
month=November,
institution={CEPII},
type={Working Papers},
url={http://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/fr/publications/wp/abstract.asp?NoDoc=10595},
number={2017-19},
abstract={The paper takes issue with the mainstream economic analysis of the enormous flow of silver into China in 1550-1820. First, I challenge the view that arbitrage between gold and silver in European trade with China was important except for one twenty-year spell. Next, I argue that had China imported gold, its history would have been much the same. I also dispute the idea that the persistence of the silver inflows from 1550 to 1820 implies any persistent disequilibrium, and I maintain that economic theory can easily accommodate the view that the inflow of silver into China sponsored growth in China.},
keywords={Silver Flows into China 1550-1820 ; Silver/Gold Exchange Rates ; Transaction Costs in International Trade}
}