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International Monetary Regimes: The Interwar Gold Exchange Standard

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Handbook of the History of Money and Currency

Abstract

Historical accounts of the international monetary system generally oppose the classical gold standard of 1880–1914 and its interwar successor of 1925–1931. While the pre-WW1 gold standard is usually described as a paragon of international monetary and price stability, its interwar version remains associated with memories of foreign exchange market turbulence, global deflation, and, of course, the Great Depression. This chapter provides an overview of the interwar gold exchange standard system. How did this system emerge in the 1920s? How was it implemented in practice? Why did it collapse in the 1930s? And what was the link between the interwar gold exchange standard and the Great Depression?

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Olivier Accominotti

  2. Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, UK

    Olivier Accominotti

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  1. Olivier Accominotti
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Correspondence to Olivier Accominotti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Stefano Battilossi

  2. European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Youssef Cassis

  3. School of Commerce, Waseda University, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuhiko Yago

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Accominotti, O. (2020). International Monetary Regimes: The Interwar Gold Exchange Standard. In: Battilossi, S., Cassis, Y., Yago, K. (eds) Handbook of the History of Money and Currency. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0596-2_24

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