Chapter 1. Introduction -- PART 1: NATIONAL PAYMENTS- Chapter 2. Nominal and real money, general equivalent, and value -- Chapter 3. From money as a numéraire to the quantity theory of money -- Chapter 4. Keynes on bank money and the ‘monetary theory of production’ -- Chapter 5. The...

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,...