Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Assignat

The assignat was a fiat paper currency issued by the French revolutionary government starting in December 1789, initially conceived as interest-bearing bonds redeemable against confiscated church properties nationalized earlier that year, with the aim of liquidating national debt and funding ongoing fiscal deficits without immediate taxation.^[1] Over successive emissions, totaling around 40 billion livres by 1795, the assignats transitioned from asset-backed securities to unbridled legal tender, enforced through price controls and penalties for refusal, amid escalating wartime expenditures and political instability.^[2] Excessive printing decoupled the currency's supply from its nominal land backing, eroding public confidence and triggering rapid depreciation—falling from near-par value in 1790 to mere fractions by 1793, with hyperinflation peaking as prices multiplied over 13,000-fold from pre-revolutionary levels by 1796.^[3] This monetary collapse exacerbated economic disarray, fueled speculation, hoarding of specie per Gresham's law, and social unrest, ultimately necessitating demonetization in February 1796 and a return to metallic standards, underscoring the perils of unchecked fiat expansion in financing state overreach.^[4]^[5] While some contemporaries and later analysts credited early assignat issues with averting immediate bankruptcy, the episode exemplifies how political incentives for deficit monetization precipitate currency debasement and broader instability, independent of external shocks like war.^[6]

Definition and Characteristics

Creation and Legal Framework

The National Constituent Assembly, confronting severe fiscal deficits exacerbated by the costs of convening the Estates-General and early revolutionary expenses, turned to the nationalization of church properties—decreed on November 2, 1789—as a revenue source to service public debt without resorting to new taxation.^[7] On December 19, 1789, the Assembly created the Caisse d'Extraordinaire, an emergency fund authorizing the issuance of assignats up to 400 million livres, explicitly backed by the anticipated proceeds from auctioning these ecclesiastical lands.^[8] ^[9] These assignats were initially structured as short-term, interest-bearing certificates—offering 5 percent annual interest—functioning as orders payable against specific parcels of confiscated property upon sale, rather than as general currency.^[7] ^[10] A follow-up decree on December 21, 1789, formalized the issuance mechanism, stipulating that repayment would draw directly from land sale revenues managed through administrative districts.^[11] ^[1] This framework reflected a pragmatic effort to liquidate illiquid assets into spendable funds, leveraging the estimated value of church holdings—pegged by contemporaries at around 2 billion to 4 billion livres—to underwrite immediate government obligations. By April 1790, as land sales lagged and fiscal pressures mounted, the Assembly enacted decrees converting assignats into full-fledged circulating notes: interest was lowered to 3 percent (later eliminated), denominations were standardized for broader usability (e.g., from 100 to 300 livres downward), and they were declared legal tender acceptable for all public and private payments.^[6] ^[10] This evolution marked assignats' shift from redeemable land warrants to a de facto national currency, intended to stabilize finances by substituting paper claims on real estate for specie shortages, though reliant on the uncertain velocity of property auctions.^[1]

Design Features and Denominations

Assignats were paper currency notes printed in rectangular formats, with larger denominations often measuring approximately 187 by 110 millimeters and printed four to a sheet.^[12] Their designs incorporated revolutionary iconography to symbolize the new republican order, including central engravings of a Republican eagle clutching a fasces surmounted by a Phrygian cap, allegorical depictions of Liberty bearing a tricolor flag and lance, and intricate borders evoking classical motifs blended with emblems of freedom.^[12]^[13] These visual elements aimed to instill initial public trust by associating the notes with the ideals of the Revolution, while prominently stating their redeemability in nationalized lands or specie to underscore their backing.^[10] Denominations spanned a wide range to facilitate everyday transactions and large payments, starting with higher values like 1,000 livres in early issuances and expanding to low denominations such as 10, 15, 25, and 50 sous by January 1792 to address coin shortages.^[10]^[14] Common mid-range values included 25, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 livres, with maximum issuances reaching up to 10,000 livres in types featuring royal faces until 1792.^[11] Later series introduced even smaller units, down to one-quarter sou, reflecting the need for fractional currency amid economic pressures.^[15] Security measures comprised manually applied signatures by officials, elaborate ornamental engravings to complicate reproduction, and embossed dry stamps (timbres secs) placed in designated circles on the notes.^[16] However, the proliferation of print runs—totaling around 1.2 billion notes—and wartime conditions enabled widespread counterfeiting, particularly by British and other adversaries, as the paper quality and designs proved insufficiently robust against sophisticated forgery operations.^[2]^[11] This vulnerability undermined the structural integrity of the currency over time, despite the initial confidence fostered by its symbolic and promissory features.^[10]

Historical Use in France

Initial Issuance and Acceptance (1790–1792)

The assignats were initially authorized by the National Constituent Assembly on December 19–21, 1789, with a planned issuance of 400 million livres in interest-bearing notes secured against confiscated church lands, intended as redeemable certificates for land purchases or tax payments.^[8] ^[1] The first notes entered circulation in April 1790, following decrees that reduced their interest rate to 3% and established them as legal tender alongside specie.^[6] Designed in large denominations such as 1,000, 800, and 300 livres to facilitate transactions for nationalized properties, they addressed acute coin shortages amid fiscal strains from the Revolution's early reforms.^[10] Acceptance was promoted through mandatory receivability for tax obligations and purchases of biens nationaux, enabling the government to liquidate debts and fund public expenditures without immediate reliance on specie reserves.^[6] By September 1790, circulation expanded to approximately 800 million livres in non-interest-bearing form, reflecting controlled issuance tied to anticipated land auction revenues.^[10] This modest volume increase coincided with specie hoarding, as holders exchanged coins for assignats to meet tax demands, thereby sustaining monetary velocity during the shift to constitutional monarchy under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.^[6] From 1790 to 1792, assignats maintained relative value stability, with minimal depreciation observed as issuance remained calibrated to the pace of land sales and public needs, providing essential liquidity without precipitating broad inflationary pressures.^[6] Refusal to accept them at par carried no severe penalties in this period, unlike later enforcement measures, relying instead on their utility for settling state dues to foster circulation among creditors and vendors.^[1] However, emerging lags in land auctions began straining redemption assurances by late 1792, though short-term functionality persisted amid ongoing coin scarcity.^[8]

Expansion Amid Revolution (1793–1795)

The issuance of assignats intensified markedly from 1793 onward to sustain the French Republic's war efforts against coalition armies and internal rebellions during the Reign of Terror. With the Committee of Public Safety assuming control in July 1793, the government authorized substantial additional printings to cover the costs of the levée en masse—mobilizing up to 800,000 troops by late 1793—and related expenses such as provisioning, weaponry, and executions, as tax revenues proved inadequate amid civil strife. By April 1795, the total circulation had reached approximately 11.5 billion livres, reflecting a shift from measured emissions tied to confiscated lands toward unchecked expansion driven by fiscal desperation.^[12]^[17] In response to surging prices and speculation against assignats, the National Convention enacted the Law of the Maximum on September 29, 1793, capping grain and flour prices at one-third above 1790 levels to ensure affordable subsistence and curb hoarding. Extended to wages and most commodities by May 1794, this measure aimed to stabilize the currency's purchasing power but instead fostered black markets where goods commanded premiums up to 200 percent over official rates, as producers withheld supplies to avoid losses. The policy inadvertently heightened monetary velocity, as holders rushed to spend depreciating notes before further controls or devaluation eroded value, exacerbating shortages in urban centers like Paris.^[18]^[3] The nominal backing of assignats on nationalized properties weakened progressively, as sales of confiscated ecclesiastical and émigré lands—intended to redeem notes—lagged behind emissions and often occurred at auctions favoring state creditors or revolutionary purchasers using freshly issued assignats. By 1795, the cumulative issuance had far outstripped the realizable value of available domains, estimated initially at around 4 billion livres but depleted through piecemeal alienations that recycled notes into circulation rather than retiring them. This disconnect eroded confidence, with rural vendors increasingly demanding specie or barter, though urban administrators enforced assignat acceptance under penalty of death to maintain the system's viability amid ongoing hostilities.^[1]^[10]

Hyperinflation and Collapse (1796–1799)

By early 1796, the assignats had depreciated to approximately one-quarter of one percent of their face value, reflecting the cumulative effects of massive overissuance that expanded the money supply from an initial 400 million livres to 45 billion livres.^[10]^[19] During the hyperinflation episode of 1795–1796, price levels rose at monthly rates exceeding 50 percent, driven by fiscal dominance and loss of public confidence in the currency's backing by confiscated lands.^[20]^[21] On February 19, 1796, the Directory formally abolished the assignats as legal tender, culminating in a public burning of the printing plates in Paris's Place Vendôme to symbolize the end of the experiment.^[22] In their place, the government introduced mandats territoriaux on March 18, 1796, exchanging them at a rate of 30 assignats per mandat and authorizing an issuance of 2.4 billion mandats backed by remaining national properties.^[7]^[23] Yet the mandats inherited the assignats' credibility deficit, depreciating rapidly amid continued fiscal pressures and public skepticism; they were demonetized by February 14, 1797, after less than a year in circulation.^[15]^[24] The currency collapse intensified social tensions, particularly in urban centers like Paris, where hyperinflation-fueled subsistence crises sparked riots over skyrocketing bread prices, as seen in the lingering unrest from the 1795 Germinal and Prairial uprisings that demanded food enforcement and constitutional revisions.^[25] This failure prompted the Directory to restore metallic currency in February 1797, allowing specie to reenter circulation gradually through military plunder and trade, though economic scars from debasement persisted into the late 1790s, hampering recovery until further stabilization measures.^[10]^[15]

Economic Analysis

Mechanisms of Devaluation

The devaluation of the assignat arose from unchecked expansion of the money supply surpassing increases in real output, aligning with the quantity theory of money via the equation MV = PY. In this framework, M denotes the assignat money supply, which grew exponentially; V the velocity of money; P the price level; and Y real economic output, which failed to keep pace amid disruptions. Economic analyses confirm a tight correlation between assignat issuance volumes and price surges, demonstrating how excess supply, absent productivity gains, eroded purchasing power through elevated P.^[6]^[4] Distrust in the assignat's stability heightened its velocity (V), as holders accelerated spending to acquire goods before anticipated further loss in value, compounding inflationary dynamics beyond mere supply growth. This behavioral response intensified the causal pressure on prices, as reduced hoarding and rapid circulation amplified the effective money stock's impact on transactions.^[20]^[3] Initially secured by claims on confiscated lands, the assignat lost this real asset backing as issuance volumes exceeded available securities from land auctions, transforming it into unbacked fiat dependent on governmental enforcement for acceptance. Without tangible reserves to constrain supply or restore confidence, the currency's value decoupled from underlying assets, exposing it to arbitrary expansion and inevitable depreciation under first-principles of exchange value derived from scarcity.^[21] Fiscal deficits drove relentless printing to fund expenditures, initiating a feedback loop where resultant inflation diminished real revenues, necessitating additional issuance—a pattern ignoring precedents like John Law's 1720 Mississippi Bubble, where fiat overexpansion precipitated collapse through similar mechanisms of eroded trust and unchecked supply.^[26]

Empirical Evidence of Inflation

The rapid expansion of assignat issuance from 400 million livres in December 1789 to over 45 billion livres by early 1796 directly correlated with accelerating inflation, as recorded in treasury ledgers and contemporary economic analyses.^[1] ^[10] Commodity prices in assignat terms provide stark quantitative evidence of devaluation; wheat in Paris, for instance, escalated from about 15 livres per quintal in 1789 to more than 600 livres per quintal by 1796, reflecting a price multiplier exceeding 40-fold amid hyperinflation peaks of over 1,000% annually in 1795–1796.^[1] Bread prices followed suit, rising from 1.5 sous per unit in 1789 to 300 sous by 1796.^[1] These surges outpaced harvest-related fluctuations, with inflation rates hitting 13% per ten-day period from June to November 1795 before moderating slightly to 7% thereafter, as tracked via assignat-denominated price indices.^[1] Exchange rates against specie further quantify the collapse: assignats traded at 87% of face value in July 1791 but depreciated to under 1% by 1796, with 20 gold francs equivalent to 4,200 assignats by January 1796—a ratio exceeding 1:200.^[10] ^[1] Jacques Necker, former director-general of finances, observed in National Assembly debates that such unchecked emission would erode purchasing power and precipitate fiscal ruin, a prediction borne out by the near-total loss of assignat value.^[14] Nominal wages stagnated or rose insufficiently against these price spikes, resulting in real wage erosion of over 90% by late 1795 and widespread economic distress documented in period reports.^[1]

Political and Fiscal Drivers

The political drivers of assignat overissuance stemmed from the revolutionary government's prioritization of ideological imperatives and military survival amid existential threats. Following the declaration of the levée en masse on August 23, 1793, which mobilized over 300,000 conscripts to counter foreign coalitions and internal counter-revolutions, the Committee of Public Safety—established in April 1793 and empowered by the National Convention in July—directed the rapid expansion of assignat printing to cover armament, provisioning, and wage costs for the Republican armies.^[27]^[21] This approach reflected fiscal dominance, where war exigencies subordinated monetary restraint to immediate needs, with issuance authorized at the discretion of the Committees of Finance and Public Safety, escalating circulation from approximately 2.9 billion livres in January 1793 to over 10 billion by year's end.^[4] Internal factional debates underscored tensions between fiscal caution and radical expediency, ultimately resolved through Jacobin consolidation of power. The Girondins, dominant until their purge on June 2–3, 1793, had initially supported assignat issuance but grew wary of unchecked expansion amid early inflationary pressures, advocating limits tied to confiscated land sales to maintain credibility.^[28] In contrast, the Montagnards and Jacobins, leveraging sans-culotte support, dismissed such restraints as counter-revolutionary, favoring unlimited printing to fund egalitarian war mobilization and override aristocratic sabotage narratives; this shift enabled the Committee to bypass advocates of balanced budgets, framing monetary expansion as a patriotic necessity against "hoarders" and enemies.^[1] Fiscal policy reinforced these drivers by favoring inflationary finance over taxation hikes, aligned with revolutionary rhetoric of equality that rendered direct levies politically untenable. The abolition of ancien régime taxes without a fully implemented replacement—due to administrative chaos and ideological aversion to regressive burdens on the masses—left deficits unfunded, prompting assignats as a de facto "revolutionary tax" on creditors and savers via seigniorage, rather than explicit hikes that might alienate the Third Estate base.^[21]^[6] This choice, while expedient for short-term cohesion, prioritized ideological purity and war financing over sustainable revenue, as forced loans and requisitions proved insufficient amid Vendée revolts and coalition invasions.^[27]

Criticisms and Contemporary Perspectives

Revolutionary Justifications

Revolutionaries justified the assignats as a tool for redistributing confiscated church and émigré lands to peasants, enabling smallholders to purchase property that aristocratic hoarding of specie had previously restricted to elites.^[10] This approach was presented as democratizing access to nationalized biens nationaux, valued at 2-3 billion livres, by converting seized assets into circulating claims redeemable for land, thereby funding the state while eroding feudal privileges.^[29] The issuance, beginning with 400 million livres in December 1789 secured against ecclesiastical properties, was ideologically framed as a rupture from monarchical debt accumulation—totaling around 4 billion livres by 1788—allowing repayment to creditors and deficit financing without proportional tax hikes or reliance on royal borrowing.^[29] Proponents among Jacobins emphasized the assignats' role in sustaining revolutionary expenditures, portraying them as a patriotic instrument that aligned holders with the republic's survival against counter-revolutionary forces.^[30] From April 1790, when granted legal tender status, the assignats initially circulated at near face value, with the first emissions spurring economic prosperity by alleviating liquidity shortages and facilitating transactions amid land sales.^[3] By late 1791, despite cumulative issuance reaching 1.8 billion livres, they retained about 82% of intrinsic value, which advocates cited as empirical proof of efficacy before wartime pressures intensified.^[3] Jacobin defenses downplayed escalating print runs, instead blaming devaluation on speculator cupidity—who resold government-issued notes at premiums—and foreign interference, notably British state-sponsored counterfeiting from 1793 onward, which flooded France with forgeries via mills in England to undermine the currency.^[30]^[1] Later socialist perspectives recast the assignats as a proto-fiat mechanism advancing collective interests over monied elites, echoing revolutionary claims of external sabotage over internal fiscal policy.^[28]

Economic Critiques and First-Principles Failures

The assignat's design as unbacked fiat currency invited overissuance, as governments facing deficits could expand the money supply without corresponding increases in real economic output or voluntary taxation, leading to inevitable devaluation. Andrew Dickson White's historical analysis attributes the system's failure to this moral hazard: initial issuance of 400 million livres in 1790 rapidly escalated to 2.8 billion by 1793 and over 45 billion by 1796, with legislative decrees mandating acceptance at face value masking the underlying erosion of purchasing power until hyperinflation rendered notes worthless.^[31] This progression exemplified how fiat monopolies distort incentives, prioritizing political expediency over economic restraint, as policymakers printed to fund expenditures rather than reform fiscal structures.^[28] From first principles, sound money demands scarcity and verifiability independent of state fiat; assignats violated these by deriving value solely from decrees backed by confiscated ecclesiastical lands that were never fully liquidated, allowing arbitrary creation that undermined trust and exchange value. Austrian economic perspectives reinforce this, positing that fiat expansion generates Cantillon effects—initial beneficiaries like government spenders gain at the expense of later holders through rising prices—while destroying savings and misallocating resources toward consumption over investment.^[32] Empirical patterns in assignat depreciation, with prices rising over 13,000% from 1790 to 1796, align with these dynamics rather than exogenous shocks, as money supply growth outpaced any war-related demands.^[4] Narratives attributing collapse primarily to counter-revolutionary sabotage or hoarding lack causal support, as internal policy choices—fiscal dominance via printing to evade taxation—drove issuance even before external wars intensified; studies show deficits from revolutionary spending, not invasion costs alone, necessitated the expansion, with regional authorities and speculators reacting to, rather than causing, the policy-induced imbalance.^[21] Contemporary critics like the Marquis de Condorcet presaged these flaws, decrying the assignat's volatility from politicized issuance unbound by metallic constraints, a warning ignored amid revolutionary zeal for state-controlled currency.^[33] Ultimately, the episode underscores fiat's systemic vulnerability to abuse under government monopoly, where short-term gains from seigniorage precipitate long-run ruin, absent decentralized limits on supply.^[34]

International Variants

Russian Assignation Ruble

The Russian assignation ruble, introduced on December 29, 1768 (January 9, 1769, New Style), by a manifesto from Empress Catherine II, marked the issuance of Russia's first paper currency through two state Assignation Banks established in St. Petersburg and Moscow.^[35]^[36] These notes, denominated in rubles, were backed by the general credit of the state and revenues rather than specific collateral like confiscated lands, serving to supplement copper and silver coinage amid growing economic demands.^[37] Initial emissions were limited, with denominations starting at 25, 75, and higher rubles, printed using advanced techniques for the era to deter counterfeiting.^[36] Circulating in parallel with the silver ruble, the assignation ruble maintained an exchange rate determined by market forces, beginning at parity but experiencing gradual depreciation from overissuance to finance military campaigns, notably the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774 and later the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).^[38] By the early 19th century, wartime expenditures exacerbated inflationary pressures, leading to a loss of over 80% of its value against silver between 1768 and 1815.^[38] In 1839, under Nicholas I, the rate was officially fixed at 3.5 assignation rubles equaling one silver ruble, institutionalizing the devaluation to roughly one-third of its nominal worth without the hyperinflationary collapse seen elsewhere.^[39] The currency's longevity—spanning 80 years until its replacement in 1849 by a unified silver ruble standard—stemmed from partial metallic redeemability via silver exchanges and more conservative fiscal policies compared to fiat experiments in revolutionary contexts.^[39] This gradual erosion, rather than abrupt failure, highlighted constraints on monetary expansion imposed by ongoing silver circulation and limited emissions relative to economic output, though it underscored persistent challenges in sustaining paper money without full metallic backing.^[38] The 1849 reform under Nicholas I phased out assignation notes entirely, restoring a coin-based system to stabilize the ruble.^[36]

Uses in Italy and Occupied Territories

In the Papal States occupied by French forces in early 1798, the proclaimed Roman Republic issued assegnati, paper notes modeled on the French assignats, to fund administrative and military needs during the brief revolutionary interlude. Denominations ranged from small values like 3 and 5 baiocchi to larger ones such as 7, 8, 9, and 10 paoli, featuring republican emblems including fasces, eagles, and liberty symbols on simple printed designs.^[40]^[41] These were produced by the republic's treasury, ostensibly backed by confiscated ecclesiastical properties, echoing the French backing by nationalized lands.^[41] The assegnati circulated in limited volumes amid the republic's short existence from February 15, 1798, to September 1799, serving primarily as a wartime expedient under French influence rather than a robust monetary policy.^[42] Their use collapsed with the French army's withdrawal and the republic's overthrow by counter-revolutionary armies under Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, restoring papal authority and rendering the notes obsolete without significant inflationary legacy due to their constrained issuance and rapid abandonment.^[42] Similar derivative experiments in French-occupied Italian sister republics, such as the Parthenopean Republic in Naples (January–June 1799), prioritized coinage over paper currency, underscoring the Roman case as the primary instance of assignat-like issuance in the region.^[43]

Legacy and Impact

Immediate Economic Consequences

The collapse of the assignat in 1795-1796 triggered hyperinflation that peaked at over 3,500% annually, rendering the currency nearly worthless and leading to its official repudiation by mid-1797 after total issuance exceeded 45 billion livres—more than 100 times the initial 400 million issued in 1790. ^[44] This monetary debacle facilitated a massive wealth transfer from savers and creditors to debtors and the state, as fixed nominal debts became trivial in real terms amid the price surge, creating a vested debtor class that profited from the depreciation while eroding savings held in assignats or metallic hoards.^[45] Despite revolutionary rhetoric of egalitarian finance, the process disproportionately benefited early speculators who acquired confiscated lands cheaply with assignats before full devaluation, while wage earners and small holders suffered eroded purchasing power, thus exacerbating economic inequality.^[3] Price volatility from the assignat's fall compounded subsistence pressures, driving food costs skyward independently of harvest fluctuations—monthly price increases exceeded 50% in late 1795—and fostering black markets and quality declines under futile controls, which intensified shortages and urban unrest.^[20] ^[18] The ensuing fiscal void dismantled Directory-era social provisions like pensions and public education, as hyperinflation wiped out revenues, forcing a abrupt shift to metallic currency on February 4, 1797, which induced deflationary contraction, wage drops, and stalled commerce, further destabilizing the regime.^[4] This monetary chaos eroded public confidence and governmental authority, directly contributing to the Directory's collapse by amplifying economic grievances that Napoleon exploited through his 18 Brumaire coup, stabilizing finances via specie resumption and Bank of France notes backed by reserves.^[4]

Long-Term Lessons for Monetary Policy

The hyperinflationary episode of the assignats illustrates the perils of fiscal dominance, wherein monetary authorities prioritize government financing over price stability, leading to unchecked expansion of the money supply. During the French Revolution, escalating deficits from war and internal turmoil prompted issuance far exceeding the nominal backing in confiscated lands, resulting in prices rising by over 13,000% between 1790 and 1796. This causal chain—deficit monetization eroding confidence and sparking self-reinforcing depreciation—mirrors dynamics in subsequent hyperinflations, such as Weimar Germany's in 1923, where Reichsbank printing to cover reparations and fiscal shortfalls devalued the mark by billions-fold monthly.^[21]^[46] Empirical analysis of the assignats reinforces the quantity theory of money, demonstrating that velocity surges amid eroding trust amplify inflationary pressures beyond mere supply growth. As holders anticipated further devaluation, transaction speeds increased, converting latent inflation into immediate price spikes and contracting real money demand. Ludwig von Mises, in his examination of the period, argued this exposed fiat systems' inherent instability without hard constraints, as political incentives favor short-term expediency over long-term value preservation.^[4]^[47] These historical patterns counsel against unbridled deficit financing in modern fiat regimes, advocating rule-bound policies or asset anchors to enforce discipline. Assignat overissuance, detached from realizable redemption, parallels critiques of contemporary tolerance for monetized spending, where central banks absorb sovereign debt without fiscal offsets, risking velocity shocks from confidence loss. The New York Federal Reserve has drawn analogies to unbacked virtual currencies, noting that algorithmic or promise-based moneys, like certain cryptocurrency collapses (e.g., TerraUSD in May 2022), replicate assignat-style runs when perceived backing proves illusory.^[3]^[20]

References

[1]
[PDF] Assignats or death - Louis Rouanet
Jun 16, 2023 · 14 The French Revolutionaries adapted this mechanism by making the assignats receivable for the payment of church property during their ...
[2]
An assignat press from the French Revolution - Citéco
Jan 9, 2014 · From 1789 to 1795, some 1.2 billion assignat notes were issued in Revolutionary France, with a total nominal value of 40 billion livres tournois.
[3]
Crisis Chronicles: The Collapse of the French Assignat and Its Link ...
Jul 11, 2014 · By 1791, France saw that each new issue brought a round of depreciation. Specie disappeared more and more from circulation as Gresham's law saw ...
[4]
[PDF] Assignats or Death: The Politics and Dynamics of Hyperinflation in ...
Following a revolution precipitated by unsustainable government deficits, an explosion of paper money called the assignat caused a rapid increase in prices not ...<|separator|>
[5]
The Assignats: A Study in the Finances of the French Revolution
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. pal paper could not become a national currency; the deficit for the year has been estimated at 300 million, exclusive of I70.
[6]
[PDF] the role of the assignats during the - french revolution: evil or rescuer?
At the end of 1796, France returned to specie. This short historical survey underlines the fact that the assignats were not always money. The assignats, when ...
[7]
Assignat | Revolutionary France, Paper Money, Monetary Reform
Sep 29, 2025 · The outbreak of war with the other European powers in 1792 caused a further decline in the value of the assignat. In 1796 the assignats were ...
[8]
[PDF] Guide to the French Currency Collection 1791-1796
By end of 1792 and the beginning of 1793, there was a rapid depreciation of the assignats. In attempts to keep assignat values stable, the French government ...
[9]
French Revolution timeline: 1789 - Alpha History
December 19th: The National Constituent Assembly begins the sale of church lands and approves a first release of 400 million assignats, a paper bond backed by ...
[10]
Tales from the Vault: Money of the French Revolution – the Assignat
Feb 25, 2016 · The first assignats were authorized in December 1789 and issued in April 1790 bearing a 5% interest rate. The first issue consisted of 400 ...Missing: details | Show results with:details
[11]
https://www.numiscorner.com/blogs/news/the-french-revolution-the-assignats-and-the-counterfeiters
[12]
[PDF] bank notes of the french revolution, part ii – the assignats of
The archives reveal that he first presented his case to the National. Assembly in December 1789, outlining in detail the debts owed him by Louis XVI's old ...<|separator|>
[13]
The Banknotes of France
Aug 24, 2025 · Embossing : Liberty walking left, holding in her right hand a sign with tricolor surmounted by the phrygian cap, and the left hand brandishing a ...Missing: engravings | Show results with:engravings
[14]
Assignat - World History Encyclopedia
Jul 22, 2022 · First issued in the form of bonds, the assignat was meant to stimulate France's economy as a quick means to pay off national debt.
[15]
French Experiments with Paper Money - Part 3 - Edmonton ...
It became increasingly necessary to issue assignats in ever smaller denominations, the smallest ultimately being a one-quarter sou (1/4 cent) note. There ...
[16]
French Revolutionary Banknote - Brunel Museum
Given this forgery and continual economic uncertainty, the assignats rapidly and uncontrollably depreciated in value, leading to extreme hyperinflation.
[17]
The Triumph of Statism: The Political Economy of the French ...
And by November 1795, total Assignats in circulation had risen to 19,700,000,000 livres, with its buying power having diminished by 99% since 1790. In a matter ...
[18]
Foutu maximum: The political economy of price controls and ...
The law of the General Maximum (September 29, 1793) forced peasants to sell their crops for less than one-third above their 1790 prices even though the ...Research Paper · 4. The Economics And... · 5. Cities, War And Political...
[19]
https://www.libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2014/07/crisis-chronicles-the-collapse-of-the-french-assignat-and-its-link-to-virtual-currencies-today/
[20]
What the French Revolution Can Teach Us About Inflation - UTEP
Sep 18, 2023 · To stimulate purchases, the government began issuing a paper currency called assignat. In order to prevent inflation, revolutionary officials ...
[21]
The fiscal roots of hyperinflation: a historical perspective
Sep 15, 2023 · This blog examines the French assignat debacle and hyperinflation (1795-96) and suggests that unsustainable public finances and fiscal dominance ...
[22]
French Revolution. Burning of "assignats" in the Place Vendôme ...
Burning of "assignats" in the Place Vendôme, Paris, on February 19, 1796. On that date, the Directory definitively abolished the use of "assignats ...
[23]
The French Revolution - Colin Narbeth
On 18 March, 1796, the new notes were issued – 2,400 million of them – which the government proposed to exchange at the rate of 30 livres assignats against 1 ...Missing: ratio | Show results with:ratio
[24]
A primer for gold newbies - Research - Goldmoney
Apr 2, 2020 · In France, the mandats territoriaux issued in February 1796 to replace the failing assignats currency were worthless by the following February.
[25]
Prairial Uprising - World History Encyclopedia
Dec 8, 2022 · There were food riots as they went, and the marchers gestured for people working in shops or riding past in carriages to come and join them.
[26]
[PDF] John Law's Banque Royale and the Mississippi Bubble
The subsequent collapse of the assignats born out of the French. Revolution of the 1790s, made the French neurotic about banking for years to come, just as the ...
[27]
Inflation and the French Revolution: The Story of a Monetary ...
During 1793, the Convention issued 1,200 million assignats; in 1794, 3,000 million. Next came the deluge. In 1795, 33,000 million were printed, and in October, ...Missing: 13000%
[28]
Assignats or death: The politics and dynamics of hyperinflation in ...
Following a revolution precipitated by unsustainable government deficits, an explosion of paper money called the assignat caused a rapid increase in prices ...
[29]
France's Land Backed Banknotes - The Tontine Coffee-House
May 27, 2019 · The 'assignats', as they were called, even more interesting was that they were backed, at least officially, not by gold or silver, but by land.
[30]
English paper mills and forged French currency - The Mills Archive
Nov 1, 2022 · By May 1791 assignats had stopped bearing interest and by the time they were finally withdrawn in 1795 an assignat with a face value of 100 ...
[31]
Fiat Money Inflation in France - Mises Institute
In Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White presents the still-largely-unknown story of a major factor behind the French Revolution.
[32]
The Austrian Theory of Money - Mises Institute
As the Austrian School economist Bresciani-Turroni wrote in his definitive study of the German hyperinflation: The rise of prices caused an intense demand ...
[33]
Company Politics: Commerce, Scandal, and French Visions of ...
From the outset, the assignat had prominent critics who feared for its stability. The marquis de Condorcet criticized the assignat as excessively volatile ...
[34]
Fiat Inflation in France - FEE.org
Andrew Dickson White's classic analysis of fiat money inflation in France at the time of the French Revolution.Missing: Lawrence summary
[35]
Soft money (banknotes) introduced in Russia | Presidential Library
On December 29, 1768 (January 9, 1769) the empress Catherine II issued a manifesto on foundation of two assignat banks and banknotes issue.Missing: assignation | Show results with:assignation
[36]
Technological expertise of Russian Empire assignations issue of 1769
The first paper money of Russian Empire, assignats, were issued in 1769 by the decree of Catherine II on December 29, 1768. Technically, in the 1860s, the ...Missing: history | Show results with:history
[37]
Reforms of Catherine the Great - World History Encyclopedia
Dec 15, 2023 · ... Catherine II of Russia ... Assignation Bank, which opened in 1769. These notes were called Assignation rubles and slowly replaced copper coins.
[38]
5 Lessons From The 1897 Russian Gold Standard
Dec 5, 2022 · Between 1768 and 1815 the rouble-assignat, the paper currency of Catherine the Great, lost over 80% of its value against silver. It took another ...
[39]
Russia's complex relationship with the ruble - The Spectator
Jul 29, 2023 · ... Russian by a senior courtier. It was only in 1769 that Catherine the Great introduced Russia's first banknotes, or assignats. Accepting ...
[40]
Assegnati Prima Repubblica Romana - Lamoneta.it - Lamoneta.it
Jun 15, 2023 · Serie Completa di assegnati della Prima Repubblica Romana (1798-1799). I tagli emessi furono da: •3 baiocchi •5 baiocchi<|separator|>
[41]
Gli assegnati della prima Repubblica Romana
Un ritrovamento casuale in un mercatino mi offre lo spunto per parlare degli Assegnati della Prima Repubblica Romana, piccoli biglietti stampati con ...
[42]
Roman Republic | Napoleonic, French Revolution, Italy | Britannica
Roman Republic, republic established in February 1798 by French troops occupying Rome and its environs. The pope was forced into exile.
[43]
Parthenopean Republic | Neapolitan, 1799-1800 & Republic of Naples
Sep 24, 2025 · Parthenopean Republic, short-lived republic in Naples proclaimed on Jan. 23, 1799, after a popular uprising of pro-French republicans resulted in the ouster of ...Missing: assignats | Show results with:assignats
[44]
[PDF] The Role of Assignats during the French Revolution - Owlstown
This short historical survey underlines the fact that the assignats were not always money. The assignats, when first issued, were an asset that should be ...
[45]
Inflation, Price Controls, and Collectivism During the French ...
In November, 1795 the Assignats numbered 19.7 billion, and by then its purchasing power had decreased 99 percent since first issued. In five years, the money of ...
[46]
Fiscal Dominance: How Worried Should We Be? | Mercatus Center
Apr 3, 2023 · Germany's hyperinflation in the early 1920s may leap to mind first. Saddled with large war debts and postwar reparation payments, the Weimar ...
[47]
[PDF] Fiat Money Inflation in France
120), a very strong conservative in such estimates, sets the total value of church property at two thou- sand millions; other authorities put it as high as ...