The Effect of American Precious Metal Arrivals on Trade in Europe

Europe's early modern trade integration was closely intertwined with the spread of commerce-friendly institutions. This includes, for example, the spread of novel financial instruments and some new forms of business organizations. Many economists believe that this institutional innovation was key to understanding early modern Europe's growth. And we think that institutional trade is a very plausible mediating variable through which American precious metal arrivals could have developed a growth effect in Europe.