NOMISMA

Price Revolution

価格革命 — Phenomena

The long-term price rise in 16th-century Europe. It was a gradual and sustained increase of roughly fourfold over a hundred years.

Spain — The eight reales / Potosí, the mint rebuilt
Spain The eight reales / Potosí, the mint rebuilt

The long-term price rise in 16th-century Europe. Driven by the influx of silver from the New World and population growth, it was earliest and most pronounced in Spain. It was a gradual and sustained increase of roughly fourfold over a hundred years—an average of 1.4 percent per year.

⚠ While this rate may not seem "revolutionary" by modern standards, it instilled in Europe the experience that prices do not fall.