use of two metals as money (especially gold and silver)
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Bimetallism Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
(n.)
The legalized use of two metals (as gold and silver) in the currency of a country, at a fixed relative value; -- in opposition to monometallism.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter. AboutThe legalized use of two metals (as gold and silver) in the currency of a country, at a fixed relative value; -- in opposition to monometallism.
bimetallism
\bi*met"al*lism\ (&?;), n. [f. bimétalisme.] the legalized use of two metals (as gold and silver) in the currency of a country, at a fixed relative value; -- in opposition to monometallism.
note: the words bimétallisme and monométallisme are due to m. cernuschi [1869].
Noun
1. a monetary standard under which the basic unit of currency is defined by stated amounts of two metals (usually gold and silver) with values set at a predetermined ratio
(hypernym) standard, monetary standard
Bimetallism Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries
In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent both to a certain quantity of gold and to a certain quantity of silver; such a system establishes a fixed rate of exchange between the two metals. Some authors, such as Angela Redish or Charles Kindelberger have argued that bimetallism was by construction instable. Changes in gold-silver exchange were, in their eyes, leading to massive changes in the money supply. Bimetallism was thus inherently flawed and the advent of the gold standard was inevitable. This view has been challenged by Friedman and Flandreau who wrote that the option to pay in gold or in silver had in fact a stabilizing effect.
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