All schoolchildren in France and Navarre know, at least by name, John Law.
You have to pronounce "Lass" insisted our teachers, because that's what the French called it three centuries ago.
This economist and banker from Scotland has gone down in history for having tried to introduce a system of paper money in France instead of precious metals, gold and silver.
Such a revolution has nothing to envy to our staggering cryptocurrencies.
What, it was hoped, would break the double curse from which the country suffered, monetary crisis (insufficient liquidity) and financial crisis (gigantic public debt at the death of Louis XIV in 1715).
The project launched under the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans unfortunately failed, ending in 1720 with
La Banqueroute de Law
, title of the cult book by Edgar Faure, emblematic minister of the 4th and 5th Republics.
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The latter nevertheless considers John Law as
"the founder of the monetary economy, the most original minister in French history
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