biography
| name: |
Gresham, Sir Thomas
|
pronunciation:
[greshm]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1519–79)
|
| biography:
| Financier, born in London, UK. He studied at Cambridge, passed into the Mercers' Company, and in 1551 was employed as ‘king's merchant’ at Antwerp. He was knighted in 1559, and was for a time ambassador at Brussels. An observation in economics is attributed to him (Gresham's law): if there are two coins of equal legal exchange value, and one is suspected to be of lower intrinsic value, the ‘bad coin’ will tend to drive the other out of circulation, as people will begin to hoard it. He built the Royal Exchange (1566–8), and founded Gresham College. |
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