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| A drawing by Johan Schübeler from the second half of the nineteenth century, depicting Nicolaus Copernicus presenting his treaty De monetae |
Copernicus’ achievements in the field of economics were equally significant as his achievements in astronomy. He wrote three versions of his essay about money and economy „On the Minting of Coin”. The first version of the essay was written in 1517, the second in 1519 and the third one in 1521. In the essay Copernicus mentioned the law of bad money driving out good money. It states that inferior money (made of worse metal and of lesser value,) displaces money better from circulation (made of better and of greater value). The principles were decades later repeated by the English financier Thomas Gresham and are known in economy as Greshams or Copernicus-Greshams Law. What is more, Copernicus was one of the first advocates of modern monetary policy based on the unification of the currency in circulation, constant care for its value and the prevention of inflation, which ruins the economy. Additionally, Copernicus was not only a theorist of finance, but he was also the co-author of a successful monetary reform.
Copernicus defined different functions of money:
- a measure of value,
- a necessary medium of exchange (for payment or purchase)
- a necessary medium of savings.
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| A collector coin with Copernicus holding his essay about money |
Author: Błażej Jóźwik, 2F
Supervisor: Emilia Woźniak
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