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gold standard |
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gold standard: see bimetallism bimetallism (bīmĕt`əlĭz'əm) ..... Click the link for more information. ; international monetary system international monetary system, rules and procedures by which different national currencies are exchanged for each other in world trade. Such a system is necessary to define a common standard of value for the world's currencies. ..... Click the link for more information. ; money money, term that actually refers to two concepts: the abstract unit of account in terms of which the value of goods, services, and obligations can be compared; and anything that is widely established as a means of payment. ..... Click the link for more information. . gold standardMonetary system in which the standard unit of currency is a fixed quantity of gold or is freely convertible into gold at a fixed price. The gold standard was first adopted in Britain in 1821. Germany, France, and the U.S. instituted it in the 1870s, prompted by North American gold strikes that increased the supply of gold. The gold standard ended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914; it was reestablished in 1928, but because of the relative scarcity of gold, most nations adopted a gold-exchange standard, supplementing their gold reserves with currencies (U.S. dollars and British pounds) convertible into gold at a stable rate of exchange. Though the gold-exchange standard collapsed during the Great Depression, the U.S. set a minimum dollar price for gold, an action that allowed for the restoration of an international gold standard after World War II. In 1971 dwindling gold reserves and an unfavourable balance of payments led the U.S. to suspend the free convertibility of dollars into gold, and the gold standard was abandoned. See also bimetallism; exchange rate; silver standard. gold standard a monetary system in which the unit of currency is defined with reference to gold How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| Governments throughout the world, with the United States at the lead, celebrated their liberation from the discipline of the gold exchange standard by printing money with abandon. The monetary reform of 1923 and the creation of the new stabilizing Rentenmark--"backed by the real estate of the Reich"--paved the way for the establishment of a new currency, the "Reichsmark," which was based on the gold exchange standard. In May 1931, a run on the Kreditanstalt, the largest Austrian bank, initiated the final defense of the gold exchange standard in Britain. |
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