"The Continental Dollar: Initial Design, Ideal Performance, and the Credibility of Congressional Commitment"

An alternative history of the Continental Dollar is constructed from the original resolutions passed by Congress. The Continental Dollar was a zero-interest bearer bond, not a fiat currency. The public could redeem it at face value in specie at fixed future dates. Being a zero-interest bearer bond, discounting must be separated from depreciation. Before 1779 there was no depreciation, only discounting. In 1779 and again in 1780 Congress passed ex post facto laws which altered the redemption dates of past Continental Dollars in ways that were not fiscally credible. These laws were the turning point. Depreciation and collapse followed.American Revolution; war financing; debt retirement; fiat money; bearer bonds; monetary denominations; congressional spending; currency depreciation; U.S. Constitution; founding fathers; Benjamin Franklin; state tax rates.

Making War Pay for War?

Just over one decade ago, Pierre Branda published a study of Napoleonic public finance. The study marks a turning point in the historiography of Napoleonic war financing because, through relying on well-researched quantitative data, Branda lays to rest the long-held myth that Napoleon ‘made war pay for war’. However, the Franco-centric conceptualization of Napoleonic resource extraction and the temporal delineation have resulted in a pri

How capital taxes harm economic growth: Britain versus the United States

The different methods used by Great Britain and the United States to finance World War II had a significant impact on postwar economic growth in the two countries. In this article, Lee Ohanian discusses the evolution of war-finance policies in the two countries and examines how the different approaches—taxing capital income versus issuing government debt—led to differences in economic performance after the war.Great Britain ; Income tax ; War - Economic aspects