Slate Daily Feed Decoder Ring - How to Make Dollars Make Sense
Apr 22, 2026
Mark Blyth, a political economist who teaches global finance plumbing, and Brendan Greeley, a finance reporter turned economic historian, explore money’s odd origins and creation. They trace the dollar back to European coinage and Spanish silver. They also explain how most dollars are actually created by banks, and why that gives banks power and demands regulation.
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Dollar Existed Long Before America
- The word dollar predates the United States and comes from the 16th-century Joachimsthal silver coin that spread across Europe.
- Spanish pieces of eight matched that coin's weight and global reach, so colonies and early America adopted the already‑familiar "dollar."
Jakomstallers Started As Mine Dividend Coins
- Count Stefan Schlick's 1520 Jakobstaller coins were small, pure silver pieces minted to regular standards for investors and nobles.
- Miners demanded the same high‑quality coin, spreading Jakomstallers across Northern Europe as reliable money.
Spanish Silver Made The Dollar Global
- Spain's massive New World silver output was converted into reales de ocho (pieces of eight) that matched the Joachimsthal standard.
- That made the Spanish dollar a global medium from Europe to Asia and into the American colonies.
