Editing French Directory (section)

=== Finance ===
Many of the economic, social and political woes during the Directory were results of the breakdown of the financial system. The principal problem was a great shortage of money with real value; that is, coins made of silver, and an excess of paper money, the value of which shrank as more and more was printed. The Directory produced only 32 million [[French livre|livres]] worth of silver-based coins in its first two years. Much of this money was hoarded, since, unlike the paper money, it had and retained real value. As a consequence, the government, to cover its costs, was forced to print millions of notes, first called ''[[assignat]]s'' and then ''[[Mandats territoriaux|mandats]]'', which were based on the value of property seized from the Church and the clergy. These notes declined in value as more and more were printed. When the notes became nearly worthless, the Directory first devalued them and finally gave up and stopped printing paper money. The shortage of real money in the second part of the Directory led to a new problem: shortage of credit; interest rates rose to about ten percent, double what they had been in 1789. The consequence in the last two years of the Directory was a decline in economic activity, and in wages, while prices rose. The population lost confidence in the money and in the Directory's management.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|pp=513–515}}

The lack of credit led to the creation of a number of new private banks, and the growing importance of banks and bankers in the economy. The ''[[Caisse des comptes courants]]'', created in June 1796, had some of the most important industrialists and financiers in France as its founders, who would later become the founders of the [[Bank of France|''Banque de France'']]. Several other new private banks followed, which concentrated the wealth of France even more in Paris. Since the nobility had gone into exile, the bankers became the new nobility of France.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|pp=515–518}} In other words, bankers became the new aristocrats.