Gresham's law


nounEconomics.
  1. the tendency of the inferior of two forms of currency to circulate more freely than, or to the exclusion of, the superior, because of the hoarding of the latter.

Origin of Gresham's law

1
First recorded in 1855–60; named after Sir T. Gresham

Words Nearby Gresham's law

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for Gresham's law

Gresham's law

noun
  1. the economic hypothesis that bad money drives good money out of circulation; the superior currency will tend to be hoarded and the inferior will thus dominate the circulation

Origin of Gresham's law

1
C16: named after Sir Thomas Gresham

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Gresham's law

Gresham's law

[ (gresh-uhmz) ]


An economic principle proposed by an English financier, Sir Thomas Gresham, that bad money will drive good money out of circulation. For example, if the U.S. government minted silver dollars and then, at a later date, began to mint dollar coins out of cheaper metals, the public would hoard the silver dollars (possibly for later sale at higher prices) rather than use them as a medium of exchange: silver dollars would stop circulating.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.