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The Russian Gold Standard, 1897–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

Ian M. Drummond
Ian M. Drummond
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh and University of Toronto
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Abstract

This paper examines the workings of the Imperial Russian gold standard, presents annual estimates on money supply under three definitions, and compares changes in money with changes in gold reserves, finding no relation. The Russian monetary system was insulated from gold movements in at least seven ways, of which three were accidental and four were deliberate. The article concludes on a note of speculative skepticism about the macro-economic significance of the rate of monetary growth, and of the gold standard itself, during the period.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 1976 , pp. 663 - 688
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1976

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References

1 von Laue, Theodore, Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia (New York, 1963), pp. 111–115, 139–145Google Scholar; Crisp, Olga, “Russian Financial Policy and the Gold Standard at the End of the Nineteenth Century,” Economic History Review, second series, 6 (1953–4), pp. 156–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Garvy, George, “Banking under the Tsars and Soviets,” Journal of Economic History, 32 (December 1972), pp. 869–893CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Barkai, Haim, “The Macro-Economics of Tsarist Russia in the Industrialization Era,” Journal of Economic History, 33 (June 1973), pp. 339–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schumpeter, Joseph A., The Theory of Economic Development (Cambridge, Mass., 1934), pp. 95–127Google Scholar; Gerschenkron, Alexander, Economic Development in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), pp. 1–72, 119–151Google Scholar; Cameron, Rondo et al. , Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization (New York, 1967), pp. 183–239Google Scholar.

2 Miller, Margaret, The Economic Development of Russia, 1905–1912 (1st ed., London, 1926; 2ded., London, 1967)Google Scholar.

3 Gindin, A., Russkie kommercheskie banki [Russian commercial banks] (Moscow, 1948)Google Scholar.

4 Yeager, Leland B., “Fluctuating Exchange Rates in the Nineteenth Century: The Experiences of Austria and Russia,” in Mundell, Robert A. and Swoboda, Alexander, eds., Monetary Problems of the International Economy (Chicago, 1969)Google Scholar. I am grateful to Dr. M. D. Knight of the International Monetary Fund for bringing this reference to my attention. Other series are to be found in Mitchell, B. R., European Historical Statistics, 1750–1970 (London, 1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Tables HI, H2, H3. At the time this paper was prepared, Mitchell's tables were not available tome. His data for total commercial bank deposits are identical with the data used in this paper. His currency data are identical for 1895–1914 inclusive but larger for most other years, apparently because his sources were not consistent with respect to the treatment of the Gosbanks cash.

5 Russia, Ministry of Finance, Ministerstvo Finansov, 1904–1913 [Ministry of finance, 1904–1913], comparison of Graphs XXI and XXIII.

6 Ibid., Graph XXIII.

7 Ibid., Graph XXII.

8 Ibid., p. 38.

9 Ibid., p. 40.

10 Bloomfield, Arthur I., Monetary Policy under the International Gold Standard, 1880–1914 (New York, 1959), pp. 34, 48, 49Google Scholar.

11 Russia, Gosudarstvennyi Bank [State Bank], Données sur les operations de la Banque de l'Etat de Russie (St. Petersburg, 1900), pp. VIII ffGoogle Scholar.

12 See Svod zakonov Rossiiskoi lmperii, Tom sed moi, “Ustav Kreditnii,” II: “O kommercheskikh bankakh,” Section 20. [Legal code of the Russian Empire, Volume Seven, “Credit Statute,” II: “On commercial banks”].

13 Gindin, Banki, p. 189; Données, p. v; Ministerstvo, p. 41; above, Table 1.

14 Graphs XXI, XXIIA.

15 See Ministerstvo, Graph XXII, for the data and for this terminology.

16 Ibid., Graph XXIII.

17 Including all guaranteed debt, but excluding mortgage bank paper. See Gindin, Banki, pp. 410–411, 445.

18 Ibid., p. 445.

19 Not even exchange control was inconceivable. Bloomfield reports that in 1905–1906 the Gosbank would supply foreign exchange in strictly limited amounts. A person could draw 50,000 marks; beyond this ration, foreign exchange was available only to finance imports (Bloomfield, Monetary Policy, pp. 58–59).