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An uncertain dollar: The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the monetary crisis of 1971 to 1973

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Author Info
Tiago Mata () (ISEG, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal)

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Abstract

In August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced the unilateral suspension of the convertibility of the dollar into gold, a foundation of the world monetary system since the Second World War. The media and economic experts were caught by surprise, neither could foresee the immediate consequences of the decision or what would be the architecture of the emerging international monetary system. From 1971 to 1973, the money markets and the value of the dollar became a news, an opinion, an editorial item in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I examine this record to question how was anxiety about the dollar resolved in media communication? Media narratives were not uniform between and within the two newspapers. What distinguished the Times and Journal's coverage was their diverse framing of the dollar as political, financial or economic object. I conclude that media uncertainty about the dollar was less an outcome of failing expert knowledge as it was a consequence of the dollar's multiple cultural significations.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto in its series FEP Working Papers with number 270.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2008
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Handle: RePEc:por:fepwps:270

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Related research
Keywords: Economic Journalism; dollar; Smithsonian; Nixon shock; media narratives;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
B29 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Other
F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative

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