Abstract: Based on the historical silver stock and currency demand, this paper estimates the cross-border silver flow from the late Ming Dynasty to the early and mid Qing Dynasty (1550-1830), and analyzes the impact of overseas silver flowing into China. The main conclusions include four aspects: First, China’s local silver is limited, and it is difficult to meet the country’s financial operation and market transaction currency demand, which has become the internal driving force for the continuous inflow of overseas silver. Second, it is preliminary estimated that from 1550 to 1830, the net inflow of overseas silver to China was about 560 million taels (approximately 21,000 tons), accounting for about 90% of China’s new silver and roughly 15% of the total global silver production in the same period. Third, the inflow of overseas silver ended China's traditional monetary policy, reshaped the country's fiscal operation, and changed the East Asian trade model and China's domestic production and circulation pattern. Fourth, the impact of China's currency demand on global silver flows and early economic globalization has been overstated.
Full text: Silver Inflow into China from 1550 to 1830 and its Impact
