Glossary

A glossary is a dictionary of terms specific to a certain subject. A biology textbook might have a glossary in the back, so you can quickly look up all those technical words.

Debasement

Updated on 2023-08-29T11:58:14.897099Z

A practice of reducing the intrinsic value of a currency, especially one dependent upon a precious metal, by supplementing metal of inferior value, is termed as debasement. It is used to reduce the intrinsic value of coins by lowering the quantity of copper, gold, nickel or silver in the coin.

Besides reducing the amount of precious metals, debasement can be done by fractional reserve lending, eliminating the commodity backing, re-denominating a currency and deficit spending.