11  In very crude terms, the supposition here has been that we can extrapolate from the quantity of coins found in modern times the number of moneyers and mints that were in operation in the thirteenth century. With this information, we can then work out how many coins each moneyer struck (the only coin in circulation at this time being the silver penny), and then calculate the total money supply. 12  Palmer, R. C. (1985), “The Economic and Cultural Impact of the Origins of Property: 1180–1220”, Law and History Review, 3 No. 2, Autumn, pages 375–396. 13  Bernanke, B, Gertler, M and Gilchrist, S (1996), “The financial accelerator and the flight to quality”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. LXXVIII, 1, February. 14  Latimer (ibid.). 15  It is perhaps for this reason – a thirteenth century manifestation of Gresham’s Law – that archaeological finds of coin hoards are often thought to contain suspiciously high proportions of freshly minted coins. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  2. Constitutional significance  In that context, Magna Carta was a desperate (and probably disingenuous) attempt at a peace treaty that failed almost immediately. Brokered by the Church, and issued by King John in June 1215, the Charter sought to placate the disgruntled barons. It is doubtful that John ever intended to uphold his side of the bargain, with all the constraints on his authority that this implied.
26 At a minimum, when taken together with survey indicators that continue to point to solid pay growth for new recruits, recent data give welcome reassurance that the risks associated with a deflationary mindset in the labour market have likely fallen significantly. Further positive wage developments should be supported by a continued tightening in the labour market. Job-to-job flows remain around post-crisis highs and the ratio of vacancies to unemployment is now back to its pre-crisis average. However, what matters for inflation is not wage growth in isolation but wage growth relative to productivity. Put simply, firms are less likely to raise their prices if higher wages reflect more output per hour worked. Along with faster wage growth, there have been signs of faster productivity growth since the turn of the year. This may well mean firms’ unit labour costs have not picked up quite to the degree we had expected in our May Inflation Report. It’s too early to be definitive. Weighing past disappointments and recent indications of a pick-up, it is prudent to recognise that two-sided risks to productivity growth remain. What is clear is that to return inflation to target, growth in labour costs must pick up further from their current rate of less than one per cent. The extent needed depends on what is happening to other costs.