1st Edition

Exchange Rates and Economic Policy in the 20th Century

Edited By Ross E. Catterall, Derek H. Aldcroft Copyright 2004
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Contents: Preface; Introduction, Ross E. Catterall; Exchange rate regimes and economic performance in the inter-war years, Derek H. Aldcroft; Exchange rate crises and the US financial markets during the 1930s, Scott Sumner; The political economy of money supply, exchange rate and inflation targets since Bretton Woods, Michael J. Oliver; European monetary union: does recent economic history in the UK suggest that exchange rates pose significant trade barriers?, Allan Webster; The cart before the horse?: Australian exchange rate policy and economic reform in the 1980s, Kieron Toner; Stabilisation and adjustment in Greece, 1990-99, Costas Karfakis; Riding the exchange rate roller-coaster: speculative currency markets and the durability of exchange rate regimes, Ross E. Catterall; The elusive case for flexible exchange rates, George Zis; Unilateral euroisation in transition countries: the case of southeastern Europe, Angelos Kotios; Index.

    Biography

    Ross E. Catterall, Anglia University, Cambridge, UK, and Derek H. Aldcroft, University of Leicester, UK Ross E. Catterall, Derek H. Aldcroft, Scott Sumner, Michael J. Oliver, Allan Webster, Kieron Toner, Costas Karfakis, George Zis, Angelos Kotios.