"Our Beloved Isaac Newton" TO NEWTON, WORKING through the problem Lowndes had set, one fact was obvious. Though he did not put it in quite this language, it was clear that currency criminals were rational actors responding to an uncomplicated set of incentives. Silver clippings represented pure profit, as was the margin harvested abroad for full-weight minted shillings. Human beings would continue to take those gains unless compelled by coercion or a change in the marketplace. The problem was as straightforward as the simplest of equations. Newton also understood that force alone could not eliminate the smuggling of bullion, given that the crime of clipping persisted despite the death sentence it carried. So he turned his attention to the source of profit in the illegal silver trade, and came up with two measures that could destroy the elementary economic logic behind the assault on England's coins. First the nation had to get rid of its old, worn, increasingly debased currency. To do so, Newton and many others recommended a complete recoinage.
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