„What did guide investors decisions” during the classical gold standard era? The case of Ottoman Empire, 1880-1914

It has been conventionally argued that the gold standard, as a “good housekeeping seal of approval”, provided an easy access to the international financial markets for the peripheral countries during the classical gold standard era. This paper, by relying on the Ottoman case, questions the importance of the gold-related monetary regime (limping gold standard) as a determinant of investors’ decisions, and attempts to answer the question of “what did guide the investors’ decisions” by relying on the revisionist gold standard literature and historical data. It is concluded that International Financial Control exercised by the representatives of the creditors on the Ottoman finances was an important determinant of the cost of borrowing which was neglected by the literature.