Zombie International Currency: The Pound Sterling 1945-1973

Maylis Avaro

No 03-2020, IHEID Working Papers from Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies

Abstract: This paper examines the international role of sterling during the Bretton Woods era and challenges the view of a competition between dollar and sterling after WWII. I construct a new dataset on the composition of foreign exchange reserves of European and sterling area monetary authorities. The postwar reserve role of sterling was limited to the sterling area and was artificial as this area was built as a captive market. I document the exchange controls, commercial threats and economic sanctions employed by the British authorities on sterling area countries to constrain them to keep their foreign exchange reserves in sterling.

Keywords: Monetary and financial history; Foreign exchnage; International monetary system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E58 F31 N24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2020-02-07, Revised 2021-04-27
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-his, nep-mac, nep-mon and nep-pay
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp03-2020

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