Why did monetary authorities hold large gold reserves under Bretton Woods (1944-1971) when only the US had to? We argue … that gold holdings were driven by institutional memory and persistent habits of central bankers. Countries continued to … back currency in circulation with gold reserves, following rules of the pre-WWII gold standard. The longer an institution …

After moving slowly downward for the better part of four decades, central bank gold holdings have risen since the … Global Financial Crisis. We identify 14 “active diversifiers,” defined as countries that purchased gold and raised its share … diversifiers into gold are exclusively emerging markets. We document two sets of factors contributing to this trend. First, gold …