Les règles de la pratique: La Banque de France, le marché des métaux précieux, et la naissance de l’étalon-or, 1848-1876

In this paper, we study the transformations of the French monetary system 1848-1876. We first discuss the claim that bimetallism until 1873 provided the Bank of France with means to make limited use of the discount rate, and find it largely unfounded, at least for the period 1848-1870. We argue that the Bank of France always favoured informal methods to manage the Paris money market, but that bimetallism did not generally facilitate such techniques. Paradoxically, the emergence of the gold standard, which was introduced in France as a practice more than as a rule, gave to the Bank of France increased autonomy. With bimetallism still legally in force, the Bank of France could give silver écus in payments, and exercise greater control on the Paris gold market.