A Small Open Economy in the Great Depression: The Case of Switzerland

Rosenkranz, Peter; Straumann, Tobias; Woitek, Ulrich

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2459025

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Eichengreen and Temin (2000) and Straumann (2010) suggest that, during the Great Depression, policy makers justified their actions with arguments valid under the classical Gold Standard, although they would have had more leeway to conduct a more expansionary monetary policy. This was also true for the SNB, determined to hold on to the Gold Standard until 1936 even though this has exacerbated and prolonged the crisis (Zurlinden 2003;Rosenkranz et al 2014) 6 .…”

Section: Foundation Of the Snb And The World War Periodmentioning

confidence: 94%

Nominal stability over two centuries

Kaufmann

2019

Swiss J Economics Statistics

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I assess the stability of the monetary environment in Switzerland over the past two centuries. In order to control for transitory measurement errors, in particular in nineteenth century data, I use an unobserved-components stochastic-volatility model to extract the permanent trends from several nominal variables. The descriptive analysis of these trends suggests that the current monetary regime, flexible inflation targeting, provided a relatively stable monetary environment. Although the trends are quite stable for the nineteenth century, the estimates are imprecise. We should therefore be cautious when characterizing metal currency regimes as providing a stable monetary environment. A discussion of the results shows that the apparent success of flexible inflation targeting poses new challenges for the implementation of monetary policy because the trend decline in inflation was associated with a trend decline in nominal interest rates.

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Section: Foundation Of the Snb And The World War Periodmentioning

confidence: 94%

Nominal stability over two centuries

Kaufmann

2019

Swiss J Economics Statistics

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“…After WW1, the SNB's primary aim was to establish the pre-war gold-parity and, as of December 1929, the SNB reenacted convertibility but only with respect to gold and not with respect to silver, abandoning bimetallism and adopting a gold standard. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, the SNB was determined to hold on to the gold standard until 1936, longer than other countries, even though this has exacerbated and prolonged the crisis (see Zurlinden 2003, Rosenkranz et al 2014). …”

Section: Fiat Currency and The World War Period From 1907-1944mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nominal Stability and Swiss Monetary Regimes Over Two Centuries

Kaufmann

2015

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in

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“…This form of corporatism was by no means restricted to stock exchanges. In fact, corporatism was widespread in Switzerland in the 1930s (Rosenkrantz et al 2014). Corporatism has always been and is still a key component in the relationship between the government and the corporate environment.…”

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confidence: 99%

Stock exchange competition: the case of Geneva during the interwar period

Oosterlinck

Pirotte

2018

Financial History Review

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Despite its importance as a financial centre, the historical literature dedicated to the Swiss financial industry remains scarce. Analyses focusing on cantons and cities of the country are even more limited in number. This is unfortunate and is, in all likelihood, linked to the reluctance of financial institutions to share information in a country where banking secrecy has been at the core of the past success of these institutions. Despite this willingness to share as little as possible, some archival funds have gradually become available, most notably after businesses went bankrupt, changed hands, or simply disappeared. The present article relies on these sources to analyse the evolution of the Geneva stock exchange during the interwar period, which saw a gradual decline of its activity. Independent brokers strived to keep their oligopoly over banks. At the same time, Swiss German banks tried to penetrate the canton-controlled marketplace by using their federal rights and strength to become unavoidable actors. They could ultimately help local bankers gain direct access to the Geneva stock exchange, obliterating the power of brokers who were left with no other choice than to appeal to the Canton of Geneva to defend their position.

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A Small Open Economy in the Great Depression: The Case of Switzerland

Abstract: In historical accounts of the world economic crisis of the 1930s, Switzerland is known for its staunch defense of the gold standard and the rise of corporatist policies. Yet, so far, the literature has not discussed the implications of these

Cited by 4 publications

References 40 publications

Nominal stability over two centuries

Nominal stability over two centuries

Nominal Stability and Swiss Monetary Regimes Over Two Centuries

Stock exchange competition: the case of Geneva during the interwar period

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