Econ Nerds is a digital media channel of the Mercatus Center, focused on illuminating the economics in the world around us through fun, contemporary media.
Rome didn’t destroy its money overnight. Beginning under Nero in 64 AD, emperors gradually reduced the silver content of the denarius. But here’s the surprising part: for roughly a century, prices barely moved. The coin was being debased, yet it continued to buy about the same amount of bread and other goods.
Why didn’t inflation explode immediately? We explore how Gresham’s law pushed older, finer coins into hoards; how the money supply may have grown alongside the expanding Roman economy; and why a coin’s value doesn’t have to equal the value of the metal inside it.
NODEHAUS handled the post-production for this piece — from ingesting, editing, motion-graphics animation, sound and color.
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Client: EconNerds, Mercatus Center
Production Co: NODEHAUS
Writer & Host: Matt Hill
Producer, Editing Manager: Roman Hardgrave
Editor: Triston Centretto
Graphics: Triston Centretto, Emily Mosier
