The Bronze and Silver Books: A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923) and A Treatise on Money (1930)

What keeps the three major industrial blocs -- Western Europe, North America, and industrialized Asia -- from developing a common monetary standard to prevent exchange-rate fluctuations? One important reason is the differing theoretical perspectives of economic advisers. The first issue is whether or not a floating foreign exchange market -- where governments do not systematically target exchange rates -- is “efficient.” Many economists believe that exchange risk can be effectively hedged in forward markets so international monetary reform is unnecessary. Second, after a decade and a half of unremitting turbulence in the foreign exchange markets, economists cannot agree on “equilibrium” or desirable official targets for exchange rates if they were to be stabilized. The contending principles of purchasing power parity and of balanced trade yield very different estimates for the “correct” yen/dollar and mark/dollar exchange rates. Third, if the three major blocs can agree to fix nominal exchange rates within narrow bands, by what working rule should the new monetary standard be anchored to prevent worldwide inflation or deflation? After considering the magnitude of exchange-rate fluctuations since floating began in the early 1970s, I analyze these conceptual issues in the course of demonstrating how the central banks of Japan, the United States, and Germany (representing the continental European bloc) can establish fixed exchange rates and international monetary stability.

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Principles of monetary system reform in Russia in the XIX century. (To the 150th anniversary of the memory of N. I. Turgenev)

Moscow University Economics Bulletin ◽

10.38050/013001052021411 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 218-236

Author(s):

Irina Nazarova

Keyword(s):

Economic Transformation ◽

State Regulation ◽

System Reform ◽

Monetary Reform ◽

Monetary System ◽

Market Situation ◽

Characteristic Features ◽

Xix Century ◽

Monetary Circulation ◽

Russian Model

The purpose of the study is to characterize the Russian model of monetary circulation during the transition from pre-capitalist forms of economy to a relatively developed capitalism in the late XIX century. The paper provides the analysis of theoretical ideas on the specifics of metal, paper and credit instruments of circulation. The key principles of the Russian model of monetary circulation are formulated in the programs of statesmen (M. M. Speransky, E. F. Kankrin, S. Yu. Witte), in the works of economists who presented alternative concepts of money, the theoretical provisions of which formed the conceptual «core» of the new monetary system. The article reveals the features of quantitative approach of N. I. Turgenev, who was the first to analyze the factors of inflation development associated with issue of banknotes, and possible scenarios of monetary reform aimed at its mitigation. The author identifies fundamental differences in the methods of reforming Russia’s monetary system in 1839-1843 and 1895-1897, considers the characteristic features of the new system of «state credit money», the concept introduced by M. M. Speransky, and the criteria for its stabilization. He then shows that the concept of «state credit money» arose at the intersection of the interests of market and state economy and reveals the role of state and commercial institutions in forming a new model of monetary circulation. The paper reveals the specifics of the domestic monetary system during the transition to capitalist production. The study contributes to the development of the theory of money, as it shows the relationship between the evolution of national economic system, the model of monetary circulation and the instruments of state regulation of the market situation. The author concludes that the changes that occurred in the theories of money are a reflection of changes in the monetary system itself and state monetary policy during the periods of economic transformation.

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