The Guilder: A Case Study of a Hard Currency Policy

André Szász
Additional contact information
André Szász: Dutch Central Bank

Chapter 21 in The Road to European Monetary Union, 1999, pp 196-212 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract After August 1993, when the EMS in its original form ceased to exist, there was a widespread tendency to argue that in a world with unlimited capital mobility exchange rate stability was no longer feasible. I heard this comment made at the IMF and elsewhere, usually followed by the afterthought that, of course, this did not apply to the guilder in relation to the German mark. The question is, why not? One answer is that the Netherlands’ (and Austria’s) ‘natural economic integration with Germany is such that the ERM is not even necessary.’1 This does not explain, however, the difference with other economies equally dependent on Germany, such as Belgium or Denmark, nor is it consistent with repeated devaluations of the guilder against the German mark up to 1983. Another answer, more to the point, is that—in view of this dependence — the Dutch authorities have pursued a policy linking the guilder to the German mark more consistently than others. If so, it is a question of policies as well as of economic dependence. In this chapter I shall discuss these policies as a case study of successful pegging in the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the EMS.

Keywords: Exchange Rate; Interest Rate; Finance Minister; European Monetary; Official Rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-59947-5_21

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230599475

DOI: 10.1057/9780230599475_21

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().