The Price Revolution in the Ottoman Empire Reconsidered

The Price Revolution of the 16th century has been the subject of one of the most enduring debates in European historiography and, more recently, in the historiography of the world economy. That European prices, expressed in grams of silver, increased by more than 100 percent—and in some countries, by more than 200 percent—from the beginning of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century has been well established and broadly accepted. In countries that experienced currency debasements, overall inflation was proportionately higher, reaching, in some cases, 600 percent or more for the entire period.