jayrandom | pro избавление от золотого стандарта

Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. Great Britain was the first to do so. Facing speculative attacks on the pound and depleting gold reserves, in September 1931 the Bank of England ceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets.

Great Britain, Japan, and the Scandinavian countries left the gold standard in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called "gold bloc", led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935-1936.

According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic recovery. For example, Great Britain and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.

-- Wikipedia, "Great Depression"

Любопытно, правда? Чем дольше держались золота, тем сильнее навредили. Напоминает попытку удержаться на двух платформах, движущихся с разными скоростями. В какой-то момент приходится-таки выбрать одну из платформ, но когда ноги уже так сильно разъехались, сделать это тяжело.

А интересно, золото (по сравнению с не-золотом) УСКОРЯЛО или ТОРМОЗИЛО?

Также интересно, что у нас 80 лет спустя будет в функции золота?