Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:26:25 +0100
From: Par Engholm <Par.Engholm-AT-soc.uu.se>
Subject: Re[2]: BHA: Missing posts


Dear Günter,
Not really. The Gold standard was abandoned in 1931. The Bretton Woods 
agreeement in 1944 which collapsed 1971-73 was based on fixed exchange 
rates against the US dollar, which then was set against gold (one ounce of 
gold was set at 35 dollar). In the older gold standard, every single 
country's currency was balanced against the gold reserve of that particular 
country. Now, in Bretton Woods, the US gold reserve (USA had 65 % of the 
monetary gold reserve at the time, and the European countries had spent 
most of their reserves during the war) functioned as the world's gold 
reserve, and the different countries did not have to possess a certain 
amount of gold in order to secure the value of their currency. Dollar bills 
were seen 'as good as gold'. So in a sense you are right Günter, the 
Bretton Woods system, enacted in 1946 and abandoned in 1971 was a form of 
Gold standard, but not in the same way as the system which was introduced 
in the late 19th century, suspended during the first war, reestablished in 
1925 and collapsed in 1931.
Best regards,
Pär Engholm


At 23:35 2003-12-14, you wrote:
>Dear steve.devos,
>
>on Monday, 15 December 2003, you wrote:
>
> > Interesting that you bring up gold but I think that the gold standard
> > was dropped in the 1920s - after which it merely became a precious
> > metal.
>
>The gold standard operated throughout the post-war era, until the collapse 
>of Bretton Woods in 1971.
>
>Regards,
>Günter
>
>--
>Günter Minnerup
>School of History
>University of New South Wales
>Sydney NSW 2052
>Tel. (+61 2) 9385 3668 (work)
>Tel. (+61 2) 9398 3646 (home)
>mailto:g.minnerup-AT-unsw.edu.au
>
>
>
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Par Engholm; Par.Engholm-AT-soc.uu.se
Uppsala University, Dept. of Sociology
Box 821; SE-751 08 Uppsala; SWEDEN
Phone: +46 18 471 1180; Fax: +46 18 471 1170
Home: Botvidsgatan 14 B; SE-753 27 Uppsala
Phone: +46 (0)18 696348; Mobile: +46 709 783546
http://www.soc.uu.se/staff/par_e.html




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