Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System - Second Edition / Edition 2

by Barry Eichengreen

Overview

First published more than a decade ago, Globalizing Capital remains an indispensable part of the economic literature today. Written by renowned economist Barry Eichengreen, this classic book emphasizes the importance of the international monetary system for understanding the international economy. Brief and lucid, Globalizing Capital is intended not only for economists, but also a general audience of historians, political scientists, professionals in government and business, and anyone with a broad interest in international relations. Eichengreen demonstrates that the international monetary system can be understood and effectively governed only if it is seen as a historical phenomenon extending from the period of the gold standard to today's world of fluctuating prices. This updated edition continues to document the effect of floating exchange rates and contains a new chapter on the Asian financial crisis, the advent of the euro, the future of the dollar, and related topics. Globalizing Capital shows how these and other recent developments can be put in perspective only once their political and historical contexts are understood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691139371
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/05/2008
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	9.14(w) x 6.02(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Barry Eichengreen is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Golden Fetters and The European Economy since 1945 (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Chapter One: Introduction 1





Chapter Two: The Gold Standard 6

Prehistory 7

The Dilemmas of Bimetallism 8

The Lure of Bimetallism 12

The Advent of the Gold Standard 15

Shades of Gold 19

How the Gold Standard Worked 24

The Gold Standard as a Historically Specifi c Institution 29

International Solidarity 32

The Gold Standard and the Lender of Last Resort 34

Instability at the Periphery 37

The Stability of the System 41





Chapter Three: Interwar Instability 43

Chronology 44

Experience with Floating: The Controversial Case of the Franc 49

Reconstructing the Gold Standard 55

The New Gold Standard 59

Problems of the New Gold Standard 61

The Pattern of International Payments 66

Responses to the Great Depression 70

Banking Crises and Their Management 73

Disintegration of the Gold Standard 75

Sterling's Crisis 78

The Dollar Follows 83

Managed Floating 86

Conclusions 89





Chapter Four: The Bretton Woods System 91

Wartime Planning and Its Consequences 94

The Sterling Crisis and the Realignment of European Currencies 100

The European Payments Union 104

Payments Problems and Selective Controls 107

Convertibility: Problems and Progress 111

Special Drawing Rights 115

Declining Controls and Rising Rigidity 118

The Battle for Sterling 123

The Crisis of the Dollar 126

The Lessons of Bretton Woods 132





Chapter Five: After Bretton Woods 134

Floating Exchange Rates in the 1970s 136

Floating Exchange Rates in the 1980s 142

The Snake 149

The European Monetary System 157

Renewed Impetus for Integration 164

Europe's Crisis 168

Understanding the Crisis 172

The Experience of Developing Countries 178

Conclusions 183





Chapter Six: A Brave New Monetary World 185

The Asian Crisis 192

Emerging Instability 198

Global Imbalances 210

The Euro 219

International Currency Competition 225

Chapter Seven: Conclusion 228

Glossary 233

References 241

Index 259

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for the first edition: Eichengreen's purpose is to provide a brief history of the international monetary system. In this, he succeeds magnificently. Globalizing Capital will become a classic."—Douglas Irwin, author of Against the Tide

Douglas Irwin

Eichengreen's purpose is to provide a brief history of the international monetary system. In this, he succeeds magnificently. Globalizing Capital will become a classic. -- University of Chicago

Douglas Irwin

Praise for the first edition: "Eichengreen's purpose is to provide a brief history of the international monetary system. In this, he succeeds magnificently. Globalizing Capital will become a classic.
— Douglas Irwin, author of "Against the Tide"

Editorial Reviews

"Praise for the first edition: This book by a prominent historian is a succinct and well-written history of the international monetary system. . . . [It] provides useful historical background for understanding current European efforts to create a monetary union."—-Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher

"Praise for the first edition: Capital flows in the recent period, unlike those in the earlier one, proved to be incompatible with exchange rate stability. [Eichengreen's] reasons for the difference . . . constitute a unique insight and contribution."

Choice

Praise for the first edition: This book by a prominent historian is a succinct and well-written history of the international monetary system. . . . [It] provides useful historical background for understanding current European efforts to create a monetary union.

Foreign Affairs - Richard N. Cooper

Praise for the first edition: This book by a prominent historian is a succinct and well-written history of the international monetary system. . . . [It] provides useful historical background for understanding current European efforts to create a monetary union.
— Richard N. Cooper

Foreign Affairs

Eichengreen (Univ. of California-Berkeley), the author of Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1918-1939, uses a detailed history of exchange rate systems to support his theory that the democratization of political processes has presented competing goals to policymakers, making it more difficult for them to commit to fixed rates of exchange. His explanation for the movement toward floating exchange rates is controversial but well argued. The information he cites is current, and he incorporates a discussion of the European Monetary System and its future. Eichengreen's presentation of history is solid, with ample references. General readers will benefit from the glossary of his technical terms. -- A.J. Sobczak, formerly at California State University, Northridge

Library Journal

Barry Eichengreen...proves that good economics writing can be fascinating, exciting, illustrative, and still make a compelling point based on thorough analysis....Tightly interweaving economic theory, politico-economic analysis, and historical fact, he takes the reader on a grand tour through his view of the last 150 years of the international monetary system.

Journal of Economics