France, bimetallism, and the emergence of the international gold standard, 1848-1873 /
Marc Flandreau ; translated by Owen Leeming ; revised and enlarged by the author.
New York :
Oxford University Press,
2004.
xix, 319 pages :
illustrations, maps ;
24 cm
Translation of: L'or du monde : la France et la stabilité du système monétaire international, 1848-1873.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-310) and index.
King bullion : the international monetary regime, 1848-73. Bullion and international monetary relations before 1873 ; A bimetallic puzzle ; Methods and controversies -- The logic of arbitrage. Bimetallism in theory ; Gold-silver points : domestic arbitrages and the bimetallic system ; Bimetallic exchange rates : an exploration ; Coin memories : new estimates of France's specie stock (1840-78) -- Policy and profit : the microeconomics of bimetallism. The rules of the bimetallic game ; Scale and scope : coinage, arbitrage, and bimetallism -- Macroeconomics : bimetallism's success and failure. How did international bimetallism work? : a monetary theory ; The French crime of 1873 : an essay in interpretation.
0
"This book studies the so far unexplored operation of the international monetary system that prevailed before the emergence of the international gold standard in 1873. Conventional wisdom has it that the emergence of gold as a global anchor was both an inescapable and a desirable evolution, given the exchange rate stability it provided and Britain's economic predominance." "This study draws on a wealth of archival sources and abundant new statistical evidence (fully detailed in the appendices) to demonstrate that global exchange rate stability always prevailed before the making of the gold standard. This was despite the heterogeneity among national monetary regimes based on gold, silver, or both."--BOOK JACKET.