Article: "Discipline or international balance: the choice of monetary systems in Europe”
Anders Ögren, professor at the Dept. of Economic History has toghether with Jonas Ljungberg from Lund Universitet written the article "Discipline or international balance: the choice of monetary systems in Europe”.
In retrospect and erroneously the nineteenth century international gold standard was interpreted as a quest for monetary discipline. The discipline argument was introduced after WWI in support for a restoration of the gold standard. The interwar failure led to an emphasis on international balances, the argument which came to the fore in the preparations for the Bretton Woods system. The balance argument was central in the early discussions of monetary union in Europe, but with the criticism of Keynesianism the discipline argument became determinant in the design of the Economic and Monetary Union.