Marshall and Ricardo on note convertibility and bimetallism

<title>Abstract</title>In 1887 Marshall proposed a convertibility scheme which extended Ricardo's Ingot plan to bimetallism. Such an extension seems surprising, since Ricardo always firmly opposed bimetallism on the grounds of its instability. The question thus arises of whether the Ingot plan, conceived by Ricardo for a single-standard monetary system, is consistent with Marshall's extension of it to a double-standard one. The paper analyses Marshall's scheme for "stable bimetallism" and shows that it could not guarantee monetary stability, concluding that Marshall did not simply extend Ricardo's plan but adopted a different view of a standard-based monetary system and, indeed, of money itself.