Prawo Kopernika-Greshama: rekonstrukcja metodologiczna
Copernicus-Gresham’s Law: Towards a Methodological Reconstruction

Summary/Abstract: Copernicus-Gresham’s Law, formulated in the pre-classical era of political economy, states that worse money drives better money out of circulation. Recently, this law has been investigated mainly by historians of economic thought, economic historians and theoretical economists. However, what is still missing is a methodological reflection on this law. The present article aims at filling this gap and is organized as follows: in the first section the division of scientific research on Copernicus-Gresham’s Law is indicated. The second part is a review of its selected classical expressions, of methodological objections raised against this law, and risks related to every attempt of its revision or refinement. The third section contains the reconstruction of antecedent of this law, that is, conditions under which it operates. The fourth part analyzes the consequent of the law in question, that is, the problem of explanatory power of driving out’s dependence. In the fifth section, the authors explore the methodological status of the law of worse money and, after considering the causal approach to it, they propose a functional status. The sixth part discusses the model of the market for “lemons” (bad quality commodities), which is an example of heuristic utilization of the Copernicus-Gresham’s Law. Finally, the last section indicates some possibilities of generalization of the law in question.

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