The US recession of - is one of the deepest on record. Yet it did not produce a global depressionquite unlike . According to the standard view, this reflected an unfettering of central banking after the collapse of the international gold standard circa . We challenge this view. While Germany and a couple of Central and Eastern European countries were sheltered by binding exchange controls, most countries were still constrained by their golden fetters, as our new exchange rate regime classification suggests. The underlying policy regime was surprisingly similar to that of the - downturn. What mattered was a quick reversal in US policy in and, for many countries, a more plentiful stock of international reserves.