Monetary Transitions

This book uses money as a lens through which to analyze the social and economic impact of colonialism on African societies and institutions. It is the first book to address the monetary history of the colonial period in a comprehensive way, covering several areas of the continent and different periods, with the ultimate aim of understanding the long-term impact of colonial monetary policies on African societies. While grounding an understanding of money in terms of its circulation, acceptance and impact, this book shows first and foremost how the monetary systems that resulted from the imposition of colonial rule on African societies were not a replacement of the old currency systems with entirely new ones, but were rather the result of the convergence of different orders of value and monetary practices. By putting histories of people using money at the heart of the story, and connecting them to larger imperial policies, the volume provides a new and fresh perspective on the history of the establishment of colonial rule in Africa. This book is the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project that has received funding by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The contributors are both junior and senior scholars, based at universities in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US, who are all specialists on the history of money in Africa. It will appeal to an international audience of scholars and educators interested in African Studies and History, Economic History, Imperial and Colonial History, Development Studies, Monetary Studies.

This important contribution to comparative economic history examines different countries' experiences with different monetary regimes. The contributors lay particular emphasis on how the regimes fared when placed under stress such as wars and or other changes in the economic environment. Covering the experience of ten countries over the period 1700SH1990, the book employs the latest techniques of economic analysis in order to understand why particular monetary regimes and policies succeeded or failed.

The essays taken on the issues that have fascinated Calvo most as an academic, a senior advisor at the International Monetary Fund and as the chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank: monetary and exchange rate policy, financial crises, debt, taxation and reform, and transition and growth.

January 1997 In transition economies monetary stability goes hand in hand with adjustment in the real sectors. Subsidies and central bank support of public enterprises to help maintain employment and output are ultimately financed by creating money, reducing the options for market-based monetary policy regardless of how market-oriented the monetary system. De Melo and Denizer examine monetary policy in 26 transition countries in Europe and Central Asia from 1989 to 1995. In a socialist economy money and credit are largely determined as a residual. In a market economy monetary policy plays an active role in economic management and economic efficiency is believed to be improved by variety and sophistication in financial instruments. De Melo and Denizer classify these 26 countries by the extent of market orientation in the use of instruments of monetary policy, by indicators of policy stance, and by broad measures of effectiveness. They evaluate these three dimensions by cross-country comparison over the transition period and at the time of stabilization. They find several clear patterns. By the end of 1994 slightly fewer than half the countries were relying mainly on market-oriented monetary instruments. More than half exhibited low to moderate reliance on them. Countries that quickly formulated a monetary policy response after the break from central planning were more likely to switch to market-oriented instruments. Central and Eastern European countries moved more rapidly than countries of the former Soviet Union toward these instruments. The use of credit ceilings was helpful in the year of stabilization, especially in the Central and Eastern European countries. The elimination of credit controls was associated with effective stabilization. Policy stance, as measured by base money growth and the real discount rate, was effective in helping to reverse undesirable inflation and disintermediation trends. But the relationship between effectiveness and market orientation of monetary policy instruments is less clear. Financial depth is associated with the elimination of credit ceilings and the development of markets for government paper, and inflation is associated with the elimination of directed credit and the establishment of a market-oriented refinancing window. The overall index of the market orientation of monetary policy instruments is negatively related to inflation, but the direction of causality is unclear. On balance, inflation control and financial depth seem to be more directly related to policy stance, which is in turn related to broader structural reform. Monetary stability goes hand in hand with adjustment in the real sectors. Subsidies and central bank support of public enterprises to help maintain employment and output are ultimately financed by creating money, reducing the options for market-based monetary policy regardless of how market-oriented the monetary system. This paper - a product of the Public Economics Division and the Macroeconomics and Growth Division, Policy Research Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to provide a comparative overview of the progress in transition from a planned to a market economy.

the adaptation of the institutional settings of monetary policy to deal with an emerging market economy had to be carried out in the midst of an unprecedented stabilization effort and, therefore, was particularly urgent and complicated. In many of the transition countries, the transformation effort implied not just changes in procedures but the establishment of a central bank from scratch, a process that involved an important effort, precisely at a time when the whole system was in serious turmoil. While the process of reforms is not yet completed in all the transition countries, an immense amount of progress has been achieved, and many of the transition countries face today monetary and central banking conditions that are close to those of Western economies. In this volume, we collect a number of important contributions that discuss the most burning aspects of the current debates on central banking and monetary policy and draw implications for the postsocialist transition economies. The various papers included in the volume deal with a broad set of related issues, which are highly relevant not just for transition economies but for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The subjects covered in the book are divided into seven major categories (Sections II to VIII), some of which overlap.

Since beginning economic transition, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia have—with much success—employed diverse exchange rate regimes. As these countries approach EU accession, they will need to avoid the perils of too much or too little exchange rate variability when capital flows are likely to be large and volatile; narrow band arrangements in particular could be problematic. The exception is Estonia, where there are good arguments for retaining the currency board arrangement. Countries wishing to join the euro area at an early stage should not leave the removal of remaining capital controls to the last minute.

In the 1990s, the issues of central banking and central bank independence have gained increasing attention, in part owing to the role of the future European central bank, but also owing to the emergence of transition countries and the role of central banks in these countries. The main focus of the paper is on the preconditions of disinflation and successful stability policy in transition countries, paying special attention to the institutional requirements and to the choice of nominal anchors.