Stuck on gold: Real exchange rate volatility and the rise and fall of the gold standard, 1875-1939

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chernyshoff, Natalia; Jacks, David S.; Taylor, Alan M.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis; University of California System; University of California Irvine; Simon Fraser University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2009.01.003
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 195-205
• 关键词: Nominal rigidity; Exchange rate regime; Terms-of-trade shocks; optimal monetary policy

摘要

Did the gold standard diminish macroeconomic volatility? Supporters thought so, critics thought not, and theory offers ambiguous messages, Hard regimes like the gold standard limit monetary shocks by tying policymakers' hands: but exchange-rate inflexibility compromises shock absorption in a world of real disturbances and nominal stickiness. A model shows how lack of flexibility affects the transmission of terms-of-trade shocks. Evidence from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century exposes a dramatic change. The classical gold standard did absorb shocks, but the interwar gold standard did not, supporting the view that the interwar gold standard was a poor regime choice. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.