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The Gold Standard and the Great Depression

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Author Info
Barry Eichengreen
Peter Temin

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Abstract

This paper, written primarily for historians, attempts to explain why political leaders and central bankers continued to adhere to the gold standard as the Great Depression intensified. We do not focus on the effects of the gold standard on the Depression, which we and others have documented elsewhere, but on the reasons why policy makers chose the policies they did. We argue that the mentality of the gold standard was pervasive and compelling to the leaders of the interwar economy. It was expressed and reinforced by the discourse among these leaders. It was opposed and finally defeated by mass politics, but only after the interaction of national policies had drawn the world into the Great Depression.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6060.

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Date of creation: Jun 1997
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6060

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hugh Rockoff & Michael D. Bordo, 1996. "The Gold Standard as a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval"," Departmental Working Papers 199528, Rutgers University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  2. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Bernanke, Ben S, 1983. "Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in Propagation of the Great Depression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 257-76, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Bordo, Michael D. & Rockoff, Hugh, 1996. "The Gold Standard as a ?Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(02), pages 389-428, June. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Koichi Hamada & Asahi Noguchi, 2005. "The Role of Preconceived Ideas in Macroeconomic Policy: Japan's Experiences in the Two Deflationary Periods," Working Papers 908, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  2. Hans-Joachim Voth, 2000. "A Tale of Five Bubbles- Asset Price Inflation and Central Bank Policy in Historical Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 416, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
  3. Michael D. Bordo & Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, 2003. "Why didn't France follow the British Stabilization after World War One ?," DELTA Working Papers 2003-15, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Michel, DE VROEY & Luca, PENSIEROSO, 2005. "Real Business Cycle Theory and the Great Depression : The Abandonment of the Absentionist Viewpoint," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2005054, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Peter Temin, 1998. "Causes of American business cycles: an essay in economic historiography," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Jun, pages 37-64. [Downloadable!]
  6. James L. Butkiewicz & Kim Lane Leong Long, 2003. "Predicting Interwar Business Cycles with the Interest Rate Yield Spread," Working Papers 03-07, University of Delaware, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Weder, Mark, 2001. "The Great Demand Depression," CEPR Discussion Papers 3067, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. David Laidler, 2003. "Meltzer's History of the Federal Reserve," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 20038, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Charles W. Calomiris & David C. Wheelock, 1997. "Was the Great Depression a Watershed for American Monetary Policy?," NBER Working Papers 5963, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Hansjoerg Klausinger, 2005. "The Austrian School of Economics and the Gold Standard Mentality in Austrian Economic Policy in the 1930s," Method and Hist of Econ Thought 0501001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. Michael D. Bordo & Marc Flandreau, 2001. "Core, Periphery, Exchange Rate Regimes, and Globalization," NBER Working Papers 8584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Michael D. Bordo & Ehsan U. Choudhri & Anna J. Schwartz, 1999. "Was Expansionary Monetary Policy Feasible During the Great Contraction? An Examination of the Gold Standard Constraint," NBER Working Papers 7125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Gerardo della Paolera & Alan M. Taylor, 2000. "Economic Recovery from the Argentine Great Depression: Institutions, Expectations, and the Change of Macroeconomic Regime," NBER Working Papers 6767, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Gerald Epstein, 2005. "Central Banks as Agents of Economic Development," Working Papers wp104, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  15. Luca, PENSIEROSO, 2005. "Real Business Cycle Models of the Great Depression : a Critical Survey," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2005005, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Paul R. Masson & Malik D. Shukayev, 2008. "Are Bygones not Bygones? Modeling Price Level Targeting with an Escape Clause and Lessons from the Gold Standard," Working Papers 08-27, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  17. Michael D. Bordo & Ronald MacDonald, 1997. "Violations of the `Rules of the Game' and the Credibility of the Classical Gold Standard, 1880-1914," NBER Working Papers 6115, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Michael D. Bordo & Lars Jonung, 1999. "The Future of EMU: What Does the History of Monetary Unions Tell Us?," NBER Working Papers 7365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Michael D. Bordo & Barry Eichengreen, 1998. "The Rise and Fall of a Barbarous Relic: The Role of Gold in the International Monetary SYstem," NBER Working Papers 6436, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Michael Bordo & Barry Eichengreen, 1999. "Is our Current International Economic Environment Unusually Crisis Prone?," RBA Annual Conference Volume, in: David Gruen & Luke Gower (ed.), Capital Flows and the International Financial System Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
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