Examples
Silver coins were widely circulated in Canada (until 1968) and in the United States (until 1964 for dimes and quarters and 1969 for half-dollars). However, these countries debased their coins by switching to cheaper metals as the market value of silver rose above that of the face value. The silver coins disappeared from circulation as citizens retained them to capture the higher current or perceived future intrinsic value of the metal content over their face value, using the newer coins in daily transactions. In the late 1970s, the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the worldwide silver market but failed, temporarily driving the price far above its historic levels and intensifying the extraction of silver coins from circulation. The same process occurs today with the copper content of coins such as the pre-1997 Canadian penny, the pre-1982 United States penny and the pre-1992 UK copper pennies and two pence. This also occurred even with coins made of less expensive metals such as steel in India.
Read more about this topic: Gresham's Law
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