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Belling the Cat: Eli F. Heckscher on the Gold Standard as a Disciplinary Device

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  • Klas Fregert

Abstract

Unlike Knut Wicksell, Eli Heckscher did not believe the time had arrived for “managed money” to replace the gold standard after World War I. The war had shown that only a gold standard could bind the central bank to a time-consistent policy with reasonable price stability. Heckscher likened the problem of reinstating the gold standard to “belling the cat” in Aesop’s fable. When the international gold standard crumbled in the Great Depression, he supported the Swedish price-stabilization regime as a temporary system. Heckscher was an early discoverer of the time-consistency problem in monetary policy and hence stressed the importance of the institutional framework of monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Klas Fregert, 2013. "Belling the Cat: Eli F. Heckscher on the Gold Standard as a Disciplinary Device," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 39-59, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:hop:hopeec:v:45:y:2013:i:1:p:39-59
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    Cited by:

    1. Ljungberg, Jonas & Ögren, Anders, 2019. "Discipline or external balance? The choice of international monetary systems in Europe," Lund Papers in Economic History 190, Lund University, Department of Economic History.

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