You bring out a very interesting fact. A not-so-known side effect of all that mining is that it flooded the Spanish markets in that era with so much silver that

You bring out a very interesting fact. A not-so-known side effect of all that mining is that it flooded the Spanish markets in that era with so much silver that it lost its value. Niall Ferguson in “The Ascent of Money” suggests that all that silver in Spain couldn’t really prevent Spain from financial headaches. Makes you wonder if the first QE was way back in 1500s , doesn’t it? :-)