IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/1440.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

International Policy Coordination in Historical Perspective: A View from the Interwar Years

Author

Listed:
  • Barry J. Eichengreen

Abstract

This paper examines the international financial relations of the interwar period to see what light this experience sheds on current concerns over international policy coordination. The analysis proceeds in three parts. The first part considers the role for policy coordination as viewed by contemporaries at the start of the period; it takes as a case study the Genoa Economic and Financial Conference of 1922. Efforts at Genoa to coordinate policies ended in failure; the second part therefore considers the effects of noncooperative strategies within the framework of the interwar gold standard. The analytical model developed in this section suggests that the failure to coordinate policies lent a deflationary bias to the world economy which may have contributed to the on set of the Great Depression. The third part asks what policymakers learned from this failure to coordinate policies, taking evidence from the next effort to establish a framework for international financial collaboration: theTripartite Monetary Agreement of 1936.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry J. Eichengreen, 1984. "International Policy Coordination in Historical Perspective: A View from the Interwar Years," NBER Working Papers 1440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1440
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w1440.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eichengreen, Barry & Watson, Mark W & Grossman, Richard S, 1985. "Bank Rate Policy under the Interwar Gold Standard: A Dynamic Probit Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(379), pages 725-745, September.
    2. Hamada, Koichi, 1976. "A Strategic Analysis of Monetary Interdependence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 677-700, August.
    3. Eichengreen, Barry, 1984. "Central bank cooperation under the interwar gold standard," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 64-87, January.
    4. John Redmond, 1980. "An Indicator of the Effective Exchange Rate of the Pound in the Nineteen-Thirties," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 33(1), pages 83-91, February.
    5. Kenneth S. Rogoff, 1983. "Productive and counterproductive cooperative monetary policies," International Finance Discussion Papers 233, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Jurg Niehans, 1968. "Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Open Economies under Fixed Exchange Rates: An Optimizing Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(4), pages 893-893.
    7. Oskar Morgenstern, 1959. "International Financial Transactions and Business Cycles," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number morg59-1, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Barry Eichengreen, 1991. "Designing a Central Bank for Europe: A Cautionary Tale From the Early Years of the Federal Reserve System," NBER Working Papers 3840, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bindseil, Ulrich & Winkler, Adalbert, 2012. "Dual liquidity crises under alternative monetary frameworks: a financial accounts perspective," Working Paper Series 1478, European Central Bank.
    3. Eichengreen, Barry & Portes, Richard, 1986. "The Anatomy of Financial Crises," CEPR Discussion Papers 130, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. WARWICK J. McKIBBIN, 1988. "The Economics of International Policy Coordination," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 64(4), pages 241-253, December.
    5. Barry Eichengreen, 1987. "Hegemonic Stability Theories of the International Monetary System," NBER Working Papers 2193, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Armelius, Hanna & Bertsch, Christoph & Hull, Isaiah & Zhang, Xin, 2020. "Spread the Word: International spillovers from central bank communication," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Barsky, Robert B. & Mankiw, N. Gregory & Miron, Jeffrey A. & Weill, David N., 1988. "The worldwide change in the behavior of interest rates and prices in 1914," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1123-1147, June.
    8. Laskar Daniel, 1986. "Balance of payments constraint in a non cooperative world (the)," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 8606, CEPREMAP.
    9. Eichengreen, Barry, 1989. "The Comparative Performance of Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rate Regimes: Interwar Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 349, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Genser, Bernd, 1988. "Is there a need to coordinate fiscal policy among large industrial countries?," Discussion Papers, Series II 73, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    11. Peter Mooslechner & Martin Schuerz, 1999. "International Macroeconomic Policy Coordination: Any Lessons for EMU? A Selective Survey of the Literature," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 171-199, September.
    12. Warwick J. McKibbin & Jeffrey Sachs, 1986. "Coordination of Monetary and Fiscal Policies in the OECD," NBER Working Papers 1800, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bordo, Michael D., 1986. "Explorations in monetary history: A survey of the literature," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 339-415, October.
    2. Fratianni, Michele & Giri, Federico, 2017. "The tale of two great crises," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 5-31.
    3. Andrew Brociner, 1993. "L'Union monétaire européenne : une revue de la littérature théorique," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 43(1), pages 349-363.
    4. Eichengreen, Barry, 1987. "Hegemonic Stability Theories of the International Monetary System," CEPR Discussion Papers 193, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. WARWICK J. McKIBBIN, 1988. "The Economics of International Policy Coordination," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 64(4), pages 241-253, December.
    6. Rui Alves & Oscar Afonso, 2007. "The "New" Stability and Growth Pact: More Flexible, Less Stupid?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 42(4), pages 218-225, July.
    7. Genser, Bernd, 1988. "Is there a need to coordinate fiscal policy among large industrial countries?," Discussion Papers, Series II 73, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    8. Arturo Estrella & Anthony P. Rodrigues, 1998. "Consistent covariance matrix estimation in probit models with autocorrelated errors," Staff Reports 39, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    9. Michael Bordo & Barry Eichengreen, 2013. "Bretton Woods and the Great Inflation," NBER Chapters, in: The Great Inflation: The Rebirth of Modern Central Banking, pages 449-489, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. L. Lambertini & R. Rovelli, 2003. "Monetary and fiscal policy coordination and macroeconomic stabilization. A theoretical analysis," Working Papers 464, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    11. Kenneth S. Rogoff, 1983. "Productive and counterproductive cooperative monetary policies," International Finance Discussion Papers 233, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    12. Maurice Obstfeld & Alan M. Taylor, 1998. "The Great Depression as a Watershed: International Capital Mobility over the Long Run," NBER Chapters, in: The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century, pages 353-402, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Franck Amalric & Henri Sterdyniak, 1989. "Interdépendance et coopération : les leçons d'une maquette," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 26(1), pages 135-156.
    14. Tae-Hwan Kim & Paul Mizen & Thanaset Chevapatrakul, 2008. "Forecasting changes in UK interest rates," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 53-74.
    15. Michael D. Bordo, 2011. "A Historical Perspective on the Crisis of 2007–08," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Rodrigo Alfaro (ed.),Financial Stability, Monetary Policy, and Central Banking, edition 1, volume 15, chapter 2, pages 011-027, Central Bank of Chile.
    16. Buiter, Willem H. & Corsetti, Giancarlo & Pesenti, Paolo, 1996. "Interpreting the ERM Crisis: Country-Specific and Systemic Issues," CEPR Discussion Papers 1466, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Georg Rich, 1984. "Canada without a Central Bank: Operation of the Price-Specie-Flow Mechanism, 1872-1913," NBER Chapters, in: A Retrospective on the Classical Gold Standard, 1821-1931, pages 547-586, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bernanke, Ben S, 1995. "The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 1-28, February.
    19. Pierre‐Richard Agénor & Timothy Jackson & Enisse Kharroubi & Leonardo Gambacorta & Giovanni Lombardo & Luiz A. Pereira Da Silva, 2021. "Assessing the Gains from International Macroprudential Policy Cooperation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(7), pages 1819-1866, October.
    20. Dueker, Michael, 2006. "Kalman filtering with truncated normal state variables for Bayesian estimation of macroeconomic models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 58-62, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1440. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.