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While the currency values of today’s economic powerhouses help maintain global financial stability, the currency systems in the 19th century were tied to precious metals and France played the stabilizing role. In the early 1800s, most countries tied their currencies to silver or gold, but Napoleon tied the French franc to both, which sparked the era of global bimetallism.
IMF economist Johannes Wiegand has studied bimetallism, and in this podcast, he says this almost-forgotten 19th-century episode shows that international cooperation is essential for a stable global monetary system.
Read the article in our latest issue of Finance & Development.
Johannes Wiegand is an advisor in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department.
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Send your comments to me at bedwards2@imf.org.
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Bruce Edwards
Producer, IMF Podcasts
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