Book contents
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Regional Developments
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- 12 Population and Human Development since 1700
- 13 Proximate Sources of Growth: Capital and Technology, 1700–1870
- 14 Underlying Sources of Growth: First and Second Nature Geography
- 15 Institutions
- 16 Consequences of Growth: Living Standards and Inequality
- 17 International Transactions: Real Trade and Factor Flows
- 18 Monetary Systems and the Global Balance of Payments Adjustment in the Pre-Gold Standard Period, 1700–1870
- 19 War and Empire, 1700–1870
- Index
- References
18 - Monetary Systems and the Global Balance of Payments Adjustment in the Pre-Gold Standard Period, 1700–1870
from Part II - Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2021
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Regional Developments
- Part II Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy
- 12 Population and Human Development since 1700
- 13 Proximate Sources of Growth: Capital and Technology, 1700–1870
- 14 Underlying Sources of Growth: First and Second Nature Geography
- 15 Institutions
- 16 Consequences of Growth: Living Standards and Inequality
- 17 International Transactions: Real Trade and Factor Flows
- 18 Monetary Systems and the Global Balance of Payments Adjustment in the Pre-Gold Standard Period, 1700–1870
- 19 War and Empire, 1700–1870
- Index
- References
Summary
We divide this chapter into four sections. The first section outlines the taxonomy of commodity-based monetary regimes in Europe and their advantages and costs. The second section describes the main international monetary flows in the early modern period and relates them to East-West balance-of-trade adjustments and monetary systems in Asia (1700–1800). In the third section, we turn to the development of the foreign exchange market, which was mostly based on bills of exchange in this period. We explain the expansion of the bills-of-exchange market from the European to the intercontinental network in the mid-nineteenth century. The final section then investigates how nominal exchange rates and relative prices contributed to the global current account adjustments in the near pre-gold standard period (1820s–1870s).
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- The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 438 - 467Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021