The themes of this study are the exchange rate regimes chosen by policy makers in the twentieth century, the means used to maintain these regimes, and the impact of these decisions on individual national economies and the world economy in general. The book draws heavily on new research showing the lessons and the legacy left for policy makers by the gold standard and the attempt at its resurrection in the 1920s. In examining issues such as the gold exchange standard, the gold bullion standard, the experience of floating exchange rates, the Bretton Woods arrangements, the EMS and the ERM, and the Currency Board approach, there is a conscious attempt to draw out the relevance of history for policy makers now.

This paper summarizes the results of an empirical study of the operation of flexible exchange rates during the 1920's under both the hyperinflationary conditions (based on the experience of Germany) and under the normal conditions (based on the experience of Britain, the United States and France).Section I deals with some general characteristics of the market for foreign exchange by examining the relationship between spot and forward exchange rates. Section II deals with the relationship between exchange rates and prices by examining aspects of the purchasing power parity doctrine. Section III deals with the determinants of exchange rates within the context of a simple monetary model

This book describes the remarkable path which led to the Swiss Franc becoming the strong international currency that it is today. Ernst Baltensperger and Peter Kugler use Swiss monetary history to provide valuable insights into a number of issues concerning the organization and development of monetary institutions and currency that shaped the structure of financial markets and affected the economic course of a country in important ways. They investigate a number of topics, including the functioning of a world without a central bank, the role of competition and monopoly in money and banking, the functioning of monetary unions, monetary policy of small open economies under fixed and flexible exchange rates, the stability of money demand and supply under different monetary regimes, and the monetary and macroeconomic effects of Swiss Banking and Finance. Swiss Monetary History since the Early 19th Century illustrates the value of monetary history for understanding financial markets and macroeconomics today.

If flexible exchange rates are not adopted, central banks should at least avoid the widespread practice of trying to sterilise the monetary effects of capital flows." "The author argues that the implementation of this plan will be a far more effective way of enhancing financial stability than controlling international capital flows, or trying to force private lenders to make new loans to countries that suffer crises."--BOOK JACKET.

This collection represents a modest attempt to chart a new course for the intellectual discipline known as economic history. (The book is not about productivity growth in the 1990s, lest the title give rise to any confusion.) As a group, these essays suggest new and potentially fruitful areas or approaches for research and at the same time address weaknesses in past efforts. One important audience will be graduate students attempting to decide whether to write a dissertation in economic history, or trying to select or refine dissertation topics in the area, and determine how to approach them. Some of the essays will most certainly be appropriate additions to the or semester courses in economic history that remain a fixture in quarter graduate economics training programs. A second audience should be established scholars who are now or have in the past done research in economic history and are interested in the perspectives of a relatively younger group of scholars. The term "younger" is used here advisedly to describe a group of scholars born between 1943 and 1954. Nevertheless, the authors of these essays can on at least one dimension be distinguished from the pathbreaking new economic his torians who established their academic reputations in the early 1960s. Indeed, the contributors to this volume include students of such pioneers as Richard Easterlin, Albert Fishlow, William Parker, and Jeffrey Williamson.

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and national and international economic developments.