Mansa Musa debased Venice when he travelled through to Mecca.
The entire downfall of European mercantilism is a case study. Take your pick from Portugal through to Belgium, France, Germany etc. all had mercantile economies.
The downfall comes in when you don't have liquidity to fund your endeavors. Debt creates liquidity.
The downfall of empires is caused by war - abandon hard money for fiat to create war. Each and every time. And if fiat money was so good, why did they always switch back to a hard money standard?
Also did you read Adam Smith? He didn't advocate for fiat money, only metal coinage and asset backed loans..
You are talking pure Keynesian.
indeed, war to acquire more hard assets. But then unable to sustain the war because the current reserve cannot pay i.e. you paid out all your gold to your soldiers already.
Yes, I have read Adam Smith and other economic works. Not once did I say he did, he is classical economics, aka mercantilism. I already said this though. I'm "talking" Keynesian because it is what works for every government run economy in the world.
But like I said, you can most certainly return to Mercantilism, Trump wanting Canada and Greenland is that basic economic principal. Will they win a war though, or would that end the empire?
