MONEY AND PRICES IN 13TH-CENTURY VENICE

Prices and salaries rose in Venice between 1173 and 1282. The supply of money also probably increased. Wine, grain, and commodity prices, as well as magistrates’ salaries, are here collected from documentary sources to illustrate this rise in prices. Evidence from silver mining, foreign trade, banking, and diplomacy seems to demonstrate an increase in the supply of money, but price inflation (the Fisher equation, MV=PT) cannot be definitely illustrated because velocity and transaction costs cannot yet be established for medieval Venice. To clarify these prices, this study also briefly describes the coins and moneys of account used in Venice in this century. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.