In modern times, since the mass of debts has become greater than ever before, such changes bring even graver economic consequence.

The increase in the output of gold in 1849-57,[15] caused what was the most rapid, if not the greatest money inflation that had occurred since the sixteenth century.

The substitution of gold for silver by some countries at that time, by making a great additional market for gold, helped to check the fall in its value.

Indeed, a considerable decline in the output of gold after 1870 combined with its widening use to cause in 1873 the beginning of a great fall of gold prices.

The resulting increase in the burden of outstanding debts was felt by all debtors, but particularly by great numbers of the agricultural classes both in Europe and in America.