Exchange Rates and Economic Policy in the 20th Century

Derek H. Aldcroft, Ross E. Catterall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351937900
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• General Editor’s Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Exchange rate regimes and economic performance in the inter-war years
• 2. Exchange rates crises and US financial markets during the 1930s
• 3. The political economy of money supply, exchange rate and inflation targets since Bretton Woods
• 4. European monetary union: does recent economic history in the UK suggest that exchange rates pose significant trade barriers?
• 5. The cart before the horse? Australian exchange rate policy and economic reform in the 1980s
• 6. Stabilisation and adjustment in Greece, 1990–99
• 7. Riding the exchange rate rollercoaster: speculative currency markets and the durability of exchange rate regimes
• 8. The elusive case for flexible exchange rates
• 9. Unilateral euroisation in transition countries: the case of southeastern Europe
• Index