Historical data for over hundred years and 14 countries is used to estimate the long-run effect of productivity on the real exchange rate. We find large variations in the productivity effect across four distinct monetary regimes in the sample period. Although the traditional Balassa-Samuelson...

1. 'Destruction ... and misery' : the First World War -- 2. The Great Depression, 1929-33 -- 3. The Second World War as an economic disaster -- 4. The rise, fall and rise again of OPEC -- 5. Inflation in the twentieth century -- 6. Financial crises -- 7. Stock market crashes -- 8. The demise of...

This book provides the first comprehensive and accessible account of the evolution of exchange rate regimes in the twentieth century. It presents a chronological, non-technical history and in doing so manages to link the past with the present to shed new light on the merits of different exchange...