Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:09:26.032Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The French Crime of 1873: An Essay on the Emergence of the International Gold Standard, 1870–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Marc Flandreau
Marc Flandreau
Affiliation:
The author is Researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Chercheur Associé at the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This article attempts to provide a new view of how the bimetallic standard was maintained before 1873 and how it came to change into a monometallic gold standard between 1870 and 1880. The conventional view that the gold standard emerged out of the contradictions of bimetallism is not persuasive. Instead, this article claims that bimetallism might have survived and provides an alternative explanation of the emergence of the gold standard. Political and historical factors proved essential in precipitating the uncoordinated emergence of the international gold standard.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 862 - 897
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baas, N. W. J. “Die Doppelwährungspolitik Frankreichs 1850–1885.” Ph.D. diss., European University Institute, Florence, 1984.Google Scholar
Bairoch, Paul. “The Geographical Structure and Trade Balance of European Foreign Trade from 1800 to 1974.” The Journal of European Economic History 3, no. 3 (1974): 557–608.Google Scholar
Cairnes, John Elliot. Essays in Political Economy. London: Macmillan and Co., 1873; New York: A. M. Kelley, 1965.Google Scholar
Collins, Michael. “Sterling Exchange Rates, 1847–1880.” Journal of European Economic History, 15, no. 3. (1986): 511–33.Google Scholar
Conférence Monétaire Internationale de 1867. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1867.Google Scholar
Conférence Monétaire Internationale de 1874. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1874.Google Scholar
Conférence Monétaire Internationale de 1875. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1875.Google Scholar
Conférence Monétaire Internationale de 1876. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876.Google Scholar
Conférence Monétaire Internationale de 1878. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1878.Google Scholar
Conseil Supérieur du Commerce, de L'Agriculture et de I'lndustrie. Enquête sur la Question Monétaire. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1872.Google Scholar
Cottrell, P. L. “London, Paris and Silver 1848–1867.” In Business, Banking and Urban History, edited by Slaven, A. and Aldcroft, D. H., 129–45. Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982.Google Scholar
Darnis, Jean-Marie. La Monnaie de Paris, Sa Création et son Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire à la Restauration (1795–1828). Paris: Centre d'Etudes Napoléonniennes, 1988.Google Scholar
Drake, L. S. “Reconstruction of a Bimetallic Price Level.” Explorations in Economic Histoiy 22 (1985): 194–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de, Cecco Marcello. Money and Empire. Oxford: Blackwell, 1974.Google Scholar
de, Cecco Marcello “Gold Standard.” In The New Palgrave:A Dictionaiy of Economics, vol. 2, edited by Eatwell, John, Milgate, Murray, Newman, Peter, 539–44. London: Macmillian, 1987.Google Scholar
Del, Mar Alexander. A History of Precious Metals. New York: Cambridge Encyclopedia Co., 1902.Google Scholar
Documents relatifs à la Question Monétaire. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1868.Google Scholar
Dowd, Kevin, and David, Greenaway. “Currency Competition, Network Externalities and Switching Costs: Towards an Alternative View of Optimum Currency Areas” The Economic Journal 103 (1993): 1180–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, Eichengreen, ed. The Gold Standard in Theory and History. London: Methuen, 1985.Google Scholar
Barry, Eichengreen, ed. Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard & the Great Depression, 1919–1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry, “The Endogeneity of Exchange Rate Regimes.” Mimeo. University of California, Berkeley, 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry, and Marc, Flandreau. “The Geography of the Gold Standard.” In Currency Convertibility, edited by Eichengreen, Barry, Reis, Jaime, and Braga De Macedo, Jorge, 113–43. London: Routledge, 1996.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry, and Ian, McLean. “The Supply of Gold Under the Pre-1914 Gold Standard.” Economic History Review 67 (1994): 288–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, Robert F., and Granger, C. W. J.. “Cointegration and Error Correction: Representation, Estimation and Testing.” Econometrica 55 (1987): 251–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, , Irving, . “The Mechanics of Bimetallism.” Economic Journal 4 (1894): 527–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “On the Inflationary Bias of Common Currencies: The Latin Union Puzzle.” European Economic Review 37 (1993): 501–06.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “Was the Latin Union a Franc-Zone?” In International Monetary Systems in Historical Perspective, edited by Reis, Jaime, 71–89. London: Macmillan, 1994.Google Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “Coin Memories: Estimates of the French Metallic Currency, 1840–1878.” Journal of European Economic History 24, no. 2 (1995): 271–310.Google Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “Les rêgles de la pratique: La Banque de France, le marché des métaux précieux, et Ia naissance de l’étalon or, 1848–1876.” Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales no. 4 (1996): 849–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. L'or du monde: la France et la stabilité du systême monétaire international. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1995.Google Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “Adjusting to the Gold Rush: Endogenous Bullion Points and the French Balance of Payments 1846–1870.” Explorations in Economic History 33 (1996): 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flandreau, Marc. “As Good as Gold? Bimetallism in Equilibrium 1848–1873.” In Monetary Standards in History, edited by Officer, Lawrence. London: Routledge, forthcoming.Google Scholar
France, . Archives de Ia Monnaie de Paris. (AMP).Google Scholar
France, . Archives Nationales. Archives Rothschild.Google Scholar
France, . Archives du Miäistère des Affaires Etrangères.Google Scholar
Frieden, J. “The Dynamics of International Monetary Systems: International and Domestic Factors in the Rise, Reign and Demise of the Classical Gold Standard.” In Coping with Complexity in the International System, edited by Snyder, J. and Jervis, R., 137–62. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Friedman, Milton, and Anna, Schwartz. A Monetaiy History of the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Frieden, J. “The Dynamics of International Monetary Systems: International and Domestic Factors in the Rise, Reign and Demise of the Classical Gold Standard.” In Coping with Complexity in the International System, edited by Snyde, J. and Jervis, R., 137–62. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Friedman, Milton, and Anna, Schwartz. A Monetaiy Histoiy of the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Friedman, Milton. “ Bimetallism Revisited.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 4, no. 4 (1990): 85–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Milton. “The Crime of 1873.” Journal of Political Economy 98, no. 6 (1990): 1154–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallarotti, Giulio M. “The Scramble for Gold: Monetary Regimes Transformation in the 1870s.” In Monetary Regimes in Transition, edited by Bordo, Michael D. and Capie, Forrest, 85–104. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Gallarotti, Giulio M.The Anatomy of an International Monetary Regime: The Classical Gold Standard, 1880–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SirHay, Hector. “Stock of Gold and Silver in the World.” Journal of the Institute of Bankers (1886): 172–76.Google Scholar
Heliferich, Karl. Die Reform des deutschen Geidwesens nach Grundung des Reiches. Leipzig: Duncker, 1898.Google Scholar
Helfferich, Karl. Money. 2 vols. New York: Adeiphi Company, 1927.Google Scholar
Henderson, D. W., and Salant, S. W.. “Market Anticipations of Government Policies and the Price of Gold.” Journal of Political Economy 86, no. 4 (1978): 627–48.Google Scholar
Hendry, David. “Econometric Modelling with Cointegrated Variables: An Overview.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 48, no. 3, (1986): 201–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hütter, Jean-Paul. L'incidence économique de Ia frappe de monnaie d'argent aux Etats-Unis de 1878 à 1893, interpretations contemporaines et essai d’évaluation quantitative. Paris: Presses Modernes, 1938.Google Scholar
Kauch, P.La Banque Nationale de Belgique, 1850–1918. Brussels: Banque Nationale de Belgique, 1950.Google Scholar
Kenwood, A. G. and Lougheed, A. L.. The Growth of the International Economy 1820–1960: An Introductory Text. London: Allen & Unwin, 1971.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, Charles P.A Financial History of Western Europe. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Laughlin, Laurence J.. The History of Bimetallism in the United States. New York: D. Appleton, 1885.Google Scholar
Levasseur, Emile. Histoire du commerce de la France, de 1789 à nos jours. Paris: Rousseau, 1912.Google Scholar
Luzatti, L. “Delle Attinenze dei Biglietti di Banca col Bimetallismo.” Nuova Antologia di Scienze, Lettere, ed Arti. Rome, (1883): 524–45.Google Scholar
McCloskey, Donald, N., and Zecher, J. Richard. “The Success of Purchasing Power Parity.” In A Reprospective on the Classical Gold Standard, edited by Bordo, Michael D. and Schwartz, Anna J., 121–72. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Mertens, Jacques. La naissance et le développement de l'etalon or, 1696–1922. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1944.Google Scholar
Milward, Alan, and Saul, S. B.. The Economic Development of Continental Europe, 1780–1870. London: Allen & Unwin, 1973.Google Scholar
Milward, Alan, and Saul, S. B.. “The Origins of the Gold Standard.” In Currency Convertibility, edited by Eichengreen, Barry, Reis, Jaime, and Braga de Macedo, Jorge, 87–101. London: Routledge, 1996.Google Scholar
Mundell, Robert. “A Theory of Optimal Currency Areas.” American Economic Review 51 (1961): 657–65.Google Scholar
Nothomb, , Eugène. Rapport sur Ia loi monétaire allemande du 4 décembre 1871. Bruxelles, 1871.Google Scholar
Nothomb, . Rapport sur Ia deuxième loi monétaire allemande du 4 juillet 1873. Bruxelles, 1873.Google Scholar
Oppers, Stefan. “Arbitrage in Bimetallic Money Supplies: Evidence from the Exchange Rate.” Mimeo, University of Michigan, 1994.Google Scholar
Oppers, Stefan. “Was the Worldwide Shift to Gold Inevitable?” Mimeo, University of Michigan, 1994.Google Scholar
Parieu, . “Les Conférences monétaires internationales de 1865 et 1867 et leurs résultats.” Journal des Economistes 1 (1869): 243–66.Google Scholar
Prince-Smith, John. Währung und Münze. Annalen des deutschen Reichs, Hirth, 1869.Google Scholar
Redish, Angela. “The Evolution of the Gold Standard in England.” this JOURNAL 50, no. 4 (1990): 789–806.Google Scholar
Rredish, Angela. “The Evolution of the Gold Standard in France.” Mimeo, University of British Columbia, 1992.Google Scholar
Redish, Angela. ”The Persistence of Bimetallism in Nineteenth-Century France.” Economic History Review 68, no. 4 (1995): 717–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Report from the Royal Commission on International Coinage. London: Her Majesty Stationery Office, 1868.Google Scholar
Roccas, Massimo. “L'italia e il sistema monetario intemazionale dagli anni ’60 agli anni ’90 del seccolo scorso.” Banca d'Italia. Temi di Discussione, No. 92, 1987.Google Scholar
Russell, Henry B.International Monetary Conferences. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1898.Google Scholar
Say, Léon. Rapport sur lepayement de l'indemnité de guerre et sur les opérations de change quien ont été la conséquence. Paris: Guillaumin, 1874.Google Scholar
Sayers, R. S. “The Question of the Standard in the 1850s.” Economic History, Economic Journal Supplement, 2, no. 8 (1933): 575–601.Google Scholar
Sayers, R. S. “The Question of the Standard, 1815–1844.” Economic History, Economic Journal Supplement, 3, no. 10 (1935): 79–102.Google Scholar
Seyd, Ernest. Bullion and Foreign Exchanges. London: Effingham Wilson, 1869.Google Scholar
Seyd, Ernest. The Depreciation of Labour and Property Which Would Follow the Demonetization of Silver. London: Effingham Wilson, 1869.Google Scholar
Sicsic, Pierre. “Estimation du stock de monnaie métallique en France à la fin du XIXéme siècle.” Revue Economique (1989): 709–35.Google Scholar
Soetbeer, Adolphe. Matériaux pour faciliter l'intelligence et l'examen des rapports economiques des métaux précieux et de la Question Monétaire. Paris and Nancy: Berger Levrault, 1889.Google Scholar
Statesman's Yearbook. London: Macmillan, 1870–1880.Google Scholar
Stern, F.Gold andiron, Bismarck Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.Google Scholar
Taussig, F. W.International Trade. New York: Macmillan, 1927.Google Scholar
The Economist, 31 01 1874.Google Scholar
Warren, G. F. and Pearson, F.. Prices. New York: Wiley, 1933.Google Scholar
Willis, H. P.A History of the Latin Monetary Union: A Study of international Monetary Action. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1901.Google Scholar
Yeager, L. B.International Monetary Relations: Theory, History and Policy. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar