| Abstract: | Monetary economists have long been interested in economic history as a laboratory for the testing of theory. This paper surveys recent work in monetary history within the context of the modern quantity theory of money and the new classical macroeconomics. Topics surveyed include the development of historical monetary statistics and the determinants of money supply and money demand; historical uses of Granger-Sims causality tests of the relationships between money, prices, and output; historical studies of the secular behavior of velocity; the Great Depression; financial crises; historical evidence for the long-run and short-run neutrality of money; and domestic and international aspects of monetary standards. Each topic surveyed concludes with an evaluation and an agenda for future research. |
