Was the worldwide shift to gold inevitable? An analysis of the end of bimetallism

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Oppers, SE
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-3932(95)01238-9
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 143-162
• 关键词: bimetallism; deflation; gold standard; Latin Union

摘要

This paper analyzes the causes and consequences of the universal switch from bimetallism to the gold standard in the early 1870s. It shows that the sole cause for the fall in silver prices after 1871 was the German demonetization of silver, and that the subsequent restriction of free silver coinage in Belgium and France was unnecessary: continued free silver coinage in the Latin Union would have reduced the share of gold in the Union's monetary system only marginally. Their continued adherence to bimetallism could have avoided much of the deflation in the gold standard world in the 1870s.