Elsewhere, inconvertible paper currency was also created to meet budget deficits. Those in control of mint houses started minting their own coins or debased existing silver currency. Local elites established in former colonial Treasury districts started highly diverse monetary experiments to procure funds. Regional competition for revenues exacerbated budget shortfalls driven by military expenditure. With the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808, the fiscal and political structure of the empire imploded and most colonies became independent. This article deals with the political economic consequences of the disappearance of the Spanish silver peso standard in Spanish America, the longest monetary union that ever existed.
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