Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Polit. Sci.

Sec. Political Economy

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1635005

From Gold to Debt: Comparative Lessons from the Spanish Price Revolution and the U.S. Post-2008 Monetary Policy

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Jadara University, Irbid, Jordan
  • 2Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the Spanish Price Revolution (1500– 1650) and the United States' post-2008 monetary trajectory to examine how sustained monetary expansion, when decoupled from real productivity growth, can generate long-term structural vulnerabilities. Drawing on the Quantity Theory of Money (QTM), Keynesian and Post-Keynesian critiques, and the political economy of imperial overstretch, the study explores how both imperial Spain and the modern United States relied on externally sourced or artificially generated wealth—colonial bullion and quantitative easing, respectively—while neglecting the renewal of domestic productive capacity. In both cases, monetary abundance contributed to inflationary pressures, deindustrialization, rising inequality, and mounting debt burdens. Although institutional differences are significant—most notably the reserve currency status of the U.S. dollar and the existence of an advanced financial infrastructure—this research argues that such advantages may only delay rather than prevent systemic fragility. By integrating historical evidence, economic theory, and geopolitical analysis, the paper demonstrates that monetary abundance cannot substitute for structural strength. The findings issue a cautionary note on the sustainability of U.S. hegemony and highlight the urgent need for reforms aimed at industrial renewal, fiscal discipline, and mitigating inequality. In doing so, the study revives classical debates in monetary economics while offering historically grounded insights for contemporary fiscal governance.

Keywords: quantity theory of money, U.S. monetary policy, Spanish Price Revolution, Economic decline, imperial overstretch

Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Bani Issa and Bani Salameh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mohammed Torki Bani Salameh, mohammadtorki@yu.edu.jo

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.