There are some striking similarities between the pre 1914 gold standard and EMU today. Both arrangements are based on fixed exchange rates, monetary and fiscal orthodoxy. Each regime gave easy access by financially underdeveloped peripheral countries to capital from the core countries. But the...

[fre] Les auteurs estiment que la crise actuelle n'annonce pas la fin de la suprématie du dollar. Ils constatent qu'il n'y a pas eu d'attaque spéculative contre le dollar, que la crise s'est traduite jusqu'ici par un renforcement du dollar et qu'elle se révèle plus coûteuse économiquement...

In this paper we examine the experience of Switzerland’s devaluation in 1936. We ask the following questions: what were the issues at stake in the political debate? What was the cost to Switzerland of the delay in the franc devaluation? What would have been the costs and benefits of an...