The Gold Standard and Related Regimes
Collected Essays

Bordo's classic essays on the gold standard and related regimes based directly or indirectly on gold convertibility.

Michael D. Bordo (Author)

9780521550062, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 May 1999

540 pages, 100 b/w illus. 24 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.5 cm, 0.96 kg

"Michael Bordo is to be commended for having given us a volume of collected essays (some written jointly with others) that admirably blend theory and history in five parts treating doctrinal thought, gold as a commodity standard, the gold standard as a contingent rule, historical cases, and the Bretton Woods system...this is a provocative and stimulating collection of essays that deserve the careful consideration of scholars and policymakers alike. It opens the door to many avenues of fruitful research that will almost certainly better our understanding of regime change and its significance for economic performance." Journal of Economics

This book contains a collection of Michael D. Bordo's essays, written singly and with colleagues, on the classical gold standard and related regimes based directly or indirectly on gold convertibility. The gold standard (and its variants) was the basis for both international and domestic monetary arrangements from the third quarter of the nineteenth century until 1971 when President Nixon closed the US gold window, effectively ending the Bretton Woods International Monetary System. Although the gold standard and its variants are now history, it still has great appeal for policymakers and scholars. Several desirable features of the gold standard have resources for the ongoing issue of international monetary reform. They include its record as a stable nominal anchor; its automaticity; and its role as a credible commitment mechanism. The essays in this collection are organized around several themes: gold and the international monetary system; the commodity theory of money; the gold standard as a rule; variants of the gold standard including the interwar gold standard and the Bretton Woods International Monetary System.

Foreword Anna J. Schwartz
1. The gold standard and related regimes: introduction to the collection
Part I. History of Doctrine and the Gold Standard: 2. The gold standard: theory
3. The gold standard: the traditional approach
4. John E. Cairnes on the effects of the Australian gold discoveries, 1851–73: an early application of the methodology of positive economics
Part II. The Gold Standard as a Commodity Standard: 5. The classical gold standard: some lessons for today
6. A model of the classical gold standard with depletion written with Richard Wayne Ellson
Part III. The Gold Standard as a Contingent Rule: 7. The gold standard as a commitment mechanism written with Finn E. Kydland
8. The operation of the specie standard: evidence for core and peripheral countries, 1880–1990 written with Anna J. Schwartz
9. The gold standard as a 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' written with Hugh Rockoff
Part IV. Historical Case Studies: 10. A tale of two currencies: British and French finances during the Napoleonic Wars written with Eugene N. White
11. Money, deflation and seigniorage in the fifteenth century: a review essay
Part V. The Bretton Woods International Monetary System: 12. The Bretton Woods International Monetary System: a historical overview
13. Is there a good case for a Bretton Woods International Monetary System? Index.

Subject Areas: Monetary economics [KCBM]