Read the text and do the tasks
1. Originally, economists used to think in terms of commodity price rules for issuers of currency to follow. For them the most natural way was to implement a system of property-rights-respecting rules, which imposed on the issuers of currency the obligation to maintain a particular exchange rate between their currencies and one or more commodities.
2. If a bank issues, say, US$1 bills, a commodity standard requires it to ensure that the US$1 bills always exchange for a given amount of a commodity. Because the issuer would maintain a fixed exchange rate between the US$1 bills and a particular quantity (or quantities) of one or more real goods, the nominal price of that good (or goods) would be fixed. Currency issued under these conditions is said to be fully convertible.
3. Commodity standards were the historical norm. The perhaps best remembered commodity standard is the international gold standard. Britain adopted a de facto gold standard in 1717 after the master of the mint, Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), re-valued the silver guinea and formally adopted the gold standard in 1819, when the British Parliament abandoned long-standing restrictions on the export of gold coins and bullion from Britain. The US, though formally on a bimetallic gold and silver standard, switched to gold de facto in 1834 and de jure in 1900. In 1834, the US fixed the price of gold at US$20.67 per ounce. It remained at that level until 1933.
(Ansgar Belke : Monetary economics in globalised financial markets / A. Belke, T. Polleit. – Springer, 2009. – P.49).
Choose the correct summary of the text.
The extract from the book is concerned with the problem of currency. The author speaks about issuers of currency, who must respect property-rights rules. They must ensure that a bill always corresponds to a given amount of commodities. In this regard it is named fully convertible currency. Of course, everybody knows that the main commodity standard is the international gold standard. A silver guinea was revalued in 1819 by the master of the mint Newton and gold became the main standard. Britain abandoned restrictions on the export of gold from Britain and formally adopted gold standard. The US adopted gold standard later and fixed the price of gold.
The title of the monograph the passage is taken from is «Monetary economics in globalised financial markets» edited by Ansgar Belke and Thorsten Polleit. Here are discussed such questions as exchange rate between money and goods, how currency becomes fully convertible, and gold standard’s adoption. It was Isaac Newton who revalued the silver guinea. There were restrictions on the export of gold coins from Britain in the 19th century. Gold standard was formally adopted in the US in 1834. Furthermore they fixed the price of gold. It was 20, 67 dollars per ounce. So it didn’t change until 1933.
I’m going to speak about the extract from the monograph «Monetary economics in globalised financial markets» edited by Ansgar Belke and Thorsten Polleit. The main idea of the text is to show us how commodity standard is linked with currency. Of course, there is no doubt that issuers must be sure that a banknote corresponds to one or many goods when they issue currency. They must maintain a fixed rate between bills and goods. I fully agree with the author that the best remembered commodity standard is the international gold standard. Gold standard was adopted after revaluation of silver one. So the price of gold was fixed and remained constant until 1933.
The extract I have read is taken from the monograph «Monetary economics in globalised financial markets» edited by Ansgar Belke and Thorsten Polleit. It deals with the problem of maintaining a particular exchange rate between currencies and commodities, implemented by issuers. The main idea is to show that the nominal price of goods will be fixed if issuer maintains a fixed exchange rate between a bill and a particular quantity of goods. The author takes the view that currency, issued under these conditions is fully convertible. It is proved by the fact that the best known commodity standard is the international gold standard, adopted in Britain in 1819. Further the author reports that the US changed bimetallic standard by law in 1900.