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

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  • 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
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    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, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bindseil, Ulrich & Winkler, Adalbert, 2012. "Dual liquidity crises under alternative monetary frameworks: a financial accounts perspective," Working Paper Series 1478, European Central Bank.
    2. Eichengreen, Barry & Portes, Richard, 1986. "The Anatomy of Financial Crises," CEPR Discussion Papers 130, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    3. Eichengreen, Barry, 1991. "Designing a Central Bank for Europe: A Cautionary Tale from the Early Years of the Federal Reserve System," CEPR Discussion Papers 585, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    6. Laskar Daniel, 1986. "Balance of payments constraint in a non cooperative world (the)," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 8606, CEPREMAP.
    7. 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.
    8. 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".
    9. Eichengreen, Barry, 1989. "The Comparative Performance of Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rate Regimes: Interwar Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 349, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    10. 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.
    11. Eichengreen, Barry, 1987. "Hegemonic Stability Theories of the International Monetary System," CEPR Discussion Papers 193, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    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.

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