Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T08:22:25.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Gold, International Monetary Cooperation, and the Tripartite Agreement of 1936

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2023

Patricia Clavin
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Giancarlo Corsetti
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Maurice Obstfeld
Affiliation:
Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC
Adam Tooze
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Get access

Summary

The conventional narrative of the 1930s portrays international monetary cooperation as non-existent, disappearing with the collapse of the gold standard during the early years of the decade and reappearing only with World War II and Bretton Woods. I argue, in contrast, that the Western democracies – foremost Britain, France, and the United States – put an end to their monetary war and moved towards peace with the Tripartite Agreement of 1936, through which they agreed to consult on matters of mutual interest and work towards greater stability. To achieve these ends, they created reciprocal gold facilities that brought coherence to the international monetary system and enabled stabilizing exchange intervention. Exploring the operation of these facilities sheds light on the evolution of the international monetary system and the ability of technical cooperation to provide a foundation for broader collaboration.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Primary Sources

Bank of England (BoE)Google Scholar
Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY)Google Scholar
Harry Dexter White Papers at Princeton University (HDWP)Google Scholar
Morgenthau Diaries (MD)Google Scholar
National Bank of Belgium (NBB)Google Scholar
Roosevelt Press Conferences (RPC)Google Scholar
Swiss National Bank (SNB)Google Scholar
Treasury Papers at the National Archives of the United Kingdom (T)Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Bank for International Settlements. 1937. The Tripartite Agreement of September 25, 1936 and Subsequent Monetary Arrangements. Basle: Bank for International Settlements.Google Scholar
The Commercial and Financial ChronicleGoogle Scholar
The EconomistGoogle Scholar
The New York TimesGoogle Scholar
Bordo, Michael D., Humpage, Owen F., and Schwartz, Anna J.. 2015. Strained Relations: US Foreign-Exchange Operations and Monetary Policy in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Stephen V. O. 1977. “Exchange-Rate Stabilization in the Mid-1930s: Negotiating the Tripartite Agreement.” Princeton Studies in International Finance no. 41.Google Scholar
Clavin, Patricia. 1996. The Failure of Economic Diplomacy: Britain, Germany, France and the United States, 1931–36. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Dam, Kenneth W. 1982. The Rules of the Game: Reform and Evolution in the International Monetary System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Drummond, Ian M. 1979. “London, Washington, and the Management of the Franc, 1936–1939.” Princeton Studies in International Finance no. 45.Google Scholar
Drummond, Ian M. 1981. The Floating Pound and the Sterling Area, 1931–1939. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Sebastian. 2018. American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry. 1992. Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry. Harris, Max. 2018. “Glut of Gold: The Tripartite Agreement and the Gold Scare of 1937.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry. 2021. Monetary War and Peace: London, Washington, Paris, and the Tripartite Agreement of 1936. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Howson, Susan. 1980. “Sterling’s Managed Float: The Operations of the Exchange Equalisation Account, 1932–39.” Princeton Studies in International Finance no. 46.Google Scholar
Jackson, Julian. 1985. The Politics of Depression in France, 1932–1936. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, Charles Poor. 2013. The World in Depression, 1929–1939. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Meltzer, Allan H. 2003. A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 1: 1913–1951. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mouré, Kenneth. 1991. Managing the Franc Poincaré: Economic Understanding and Political Constraint in French Monetary Policy, 1928–1936. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mouré, Kenneth. 2002. The Gold Standard Illusion: France, the Bank of France, and the International Gold Standard, 1914–1939. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nurkse, Ragnar. 1944. International Currency Experience: Lessons of the Inter-War Period. Geneva: League of Nations.Google Scholar
Rauchway, Eric. 2015. The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Sayers, R. S. 1976. The Bank of England, 1891–1944. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Straumann, Tobias. 2010. Fixed Ideas of Money: Small States and Exchange Rate Regimes in Twentieth-Century Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toniolo, Gianni. 2005. Central Bank Cooperation at the Bank for International Settlements, 1930–1973. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×