Exchange Controls
Devaluation not only failed to prevent capital flight; it frequently intensified it. Most Latin American republics, whose currencies depreciated in 1929 and 1930, resorted to exchange controls in 1931 and 1932. In Europe, Den…
The Franc–Pound Conflict
Despite the lack of highly precise data, it is known that a significant portion of the foreign exchange accumulated by France between 1926 and 1928 consisted of pounds sterling. Thus, part of the gold held by the Bank of Engl…
Devaluation and the Balance of Payments
As price increases were more rapid in France than abroad, the government was compelled to devalue the franc on several occasions. For these structural reasons, a deficit in the French balance of payments emerged; what is cert…
The rules of the game
Monetary policy, however, was supposed to reinforce the effects of these automatic mechanisms for adjusting external payments, not hinder them. Holders of inventories financed through borrowing, on the one hand, saw the burde…
Discount rate policy and the “rules of the game”
Discount rate policy did not have the same scope in all countries and did not always follow the so-called “rules of the game.” Here too, the United Kingdom enjoyed a clear advantage linked to the structure of London’s interna…
Adverse Influence on Debtor Countries
Alongside this action that was favorable to both borrowers and lenders, situations periodically emerged that were consistently advantageous to creditors but difficult for debtor countries. These situations were generally char…
The International Gold Standard: Myths and Realities of the Nineteenth Century
Long considered definitively consigned to history, the recent difficulties of the international monetary system and the controversies they provoke demonstrate quite clearly that this is not the case. This should be welcomed, …
The Role of Sterling in the Mechanisms of the Gold Standard
Classical analyses of the gold standard have generally overlooked the structural differences that existed both from an economic and a financial standpoint. The mechanisms of automatic rebalancing of balance-of-payments positi…
The Place of Gold in International Liquidity
The international monetary system is often criticized for relying more on the use of currencies (dollars and pounds) than on gold to settle payments. France even announced, in early February 1965, that it would no longer acce…
The Gold Exchange Standard and the Monetary Experience of the Interwar Period
On the eve of the First World War, the United States was eager to free itself from British tutelage in international financial operations. Despite its economic power, the United States lacked the ability to challenge British …
