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The international monetary system since 1870 自1870以来的国际货币体系 1. Introduction to the international monetary system 1,对国际货币体系介绍 The international monetary system is broadly defined as the set of conventions, rules, procedures and institutions assignment.htmlthat govern the conduct of financial relations between nations. The need for an international monetary system derives from the inherent interdependence of open national economies and different systems are designed to support specific forms of trade and economic development. The design of international monetary systems has a considerable influence upon the ability of national economies to achieve their goals of maintaining internal and external balance. 国际货币体系是指的公约，规则，程序和assignment.htmlthat支配国与国之间的金融关系进行机构。一个国际货币体系的必要性来自于开放国家经济和不同的系统所固有的相互依存是设计来支持贸易与经济发展的具体形式。国际货币制度的设计对国民经济实现其维护内部和外部均衡目标的能力相当的影响。 The four principal international monetary system types since 1870 have been the following: classical gold standard (1870-1914) modified gold standard (1925-1931) Bretton Woods (1944-1972) European Monetary Union (EMU) (1999-) Finally, it is it is important to keep in mind that, although the industrialised countries we are most familiar with either have freely floating currencies (i.e. UK, USA, Japan) or operate within a restricted EMS system. However, there exists a wide variation of fixed and floating regimes currently in operation throughout the world. 2. The Classical Gold Standard (1870-1914) The system of international monetary relations that had evolved by the late nineteenth century was a commodity money standard known as the classical gold standard (1870-1914). The historical origin of using gold as a medium of exchange derives from its use in ancient times and its more formal adoption as a gold standard in Britain in 1819 when Parliament resumed its practice of exchanging currency notes for gold on demand at a fixed rate. As the decade continued, Germany, Japan and other countries adopted the gold standard (rather than the alternative silver standard) as the basis for their currency exchange, with the USA joining in 1879. The essence of the gold standard was that each participating country was obliged to fix its currency in terms of gold. Consequently, each country s currency was then fixed to each other. For example, sterling was valued at 113.02 grains of fine gold and the par value of the US dollar at 23.22 grains. Thus, sterling would exchange against the US dollar at ￡1 = $4.87. Since the exchange rate was fixed to gold, the money supply was restricted by the supply of gold. Prices could still rise and fall in relation to economic booms and slumps, but the tendency was for a return to a long-term stable level. As long as the gold stock grew at a steady rate, prices would follow a steady path; new discoveries of gold would cause discontinuous shifts in the price level. In order for the gold standard to operate in this way, a number of conditions had to be fulfilled: (i) gold had to be acceptable as international money (ii) governments had to be prepared to provide gold on demand in unlimited quantities at a fixed price (iii) no restrictions could be placed on the import or export of gold. It was especially important that governments obeyed the rules |
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