The Assignat, the Mandat and the Maximum

Watch the whole 42-minute video at http://www.goldmoney.com/jovanovic-interview . Pierre Jovanovic (http://www.jovanovic.com) talks to James Turk about the debates that preceded the issue of fiat money during the French Revolution. They explain that the political pressure brought to bear by Talleyrand was much more powerful than the common sense espoused by defenders of sound money. Political priorities and anger at the Church were more important than fiscal orthodoxy. Even though the public debates lasted a whole year and were fought, the issuing of paper money had been decided behind closed doors. They also explain that Assignats were initially limited in quantity, but not for long… They explain how printing accelerated, leading to a 99,5% loss of value of the Assignats in under 7 years. The Law of the maximum, a form of price controls, was introduced to attempt to stop rising prices, it failed.