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Reti: Silver and Gold - The Political Economy of International Monetary Conferences, 1867 - 1892

Currency:USD Category:Books / Nonfiction Books Start Price:30.00 USD Estimated At:65.00 - 100.00 USD
Reti: Silver and Gold - The Political Economy of International Monetary Conferences, 1867 - 1892
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Reti, Steven P. SILVER AND GOLD - THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL MONETARY CONFERENCES, 1867 - 1892. Greenwood Press. 1998. 12mo. x, 214 (2) pages. Westport. original green cloth, gilt. tables. Fine. This book provides a detailed account of the monetary diplomacy surrounding the origins and maintenance of the classical gold standard and explains both the cooperation and conflict surrounding this monetary regime. These goals are addressed through a case-study analysis of the International Monetary Conferences of 1867, 1878, 1881, and 1892; at which monetary policymakers first selected gold as the preferred standard and subsequently debated the merits of this choice. Theories of international regimes are then used to explain the conference diplomacy. The rationale for this study emerged from the concerns of many students of international political economy in the 1990s. Why do nations cooperate? What are the domestic requirements for international cooperation? What role, if any, do ideas have? For those interested in the linkages between international relations and domestic politics, the classical gold standard presents an excellent case study to examine these questions. Standard international accounts of the classical gold standard portray this monetary regime as a case of international cooperation without international negotiation. A smooth harmony between domestic demands and international constraints managed a system of stable exchange rates in a spontaneous, uncoordinated fashion. Yet our historical understanding of the place of gold in domestic politics is drastically different. This book is intended to illuminate the convictions and struggles of nineteenth-century monetary policymakers. For many participants, gold was a bitter, yet necessary, economic tonic. Few idealized this monetary standard. By exposing the day-to-day monetary politicking of the era, this book shows how different factors worked in practice. This book also explores how policymakers perceived British hegemony and how they attempted to reconcile international and domestic demands. It probes how economic theories, both valid and far-fetched, formed an idiom, and influenced, conflict and cooperation. Finally, the author shows how causal factors interacted to maintain international cooperation despite tenacious opposition. This book is very much a work of synthesis: linking dusty monetary records with existing theories of international cooperation. Lot weight: 1 lbs 4oz. Subject(s): World Monetary Diplomacy.