19 14 during the first world war, 59 countries in the world implemented the gold standard. The gold standard system has the following characteristics: (1) gold acts as an international currency in international exchanges, and most of the international reserve assets held by central bank bills are gold, which is the basis of the international monetary system. Gold coins can be freely cast, freely convertible and freely imported and exported; (2) The exchange rate of the two currencies is determined by the ratio of their respective gold contents-gold parity. For example, the gold content of a pound is 1 13.05438+05 green, and the gold content of a dollar is 23.22 green.
1=113.4438+05/23.22 = USD 4.8665.
As long as the gold content of the two currencies remains unchanged, the exchange rates of the two currencies will remain stable. Of course, this fixed exchange rate is also affected by the supply and demand of foreign exchange and the balance of payments, but the fluctuation of exchange rate is limited to the golden point. Gold transport point refers to the border where gold is exported or imported from a country due to exchange rate fluctuations. The highest limit of exchange rate fluctuation is coinage parity plus transportation fee, that is, the gold export point; The lower limit of exchange rate fluctuation is the coinage parity minus the transportation fee, which is the gold import point. (3) Having a mechanism for automatically adjusting the balance of payments. When there is a deficit in foreign exchange receipts and payments and gold flows out, if the central bank's gold reserves are greatly reduced, it will lead to the effect of tight money supply and further lower prices, thus improving the single debt capacity of domestic commodity exports and curbing imports; At the same time, austerity will also raise interest rates and cause capital inflows. The function of this mechanism is to promote the recovery of international payments. or vice versa, Dallas to the auditorium
With the formation of the gold standard, gold has assumed the universal equivalent of commodity exchange and become the medium in the process of commodity exchange, and the social mobility of gold has increased. The development of gold market has objective social conditions and economic needs. During the "gold standard" period, although the central banks of various countries could buy and sell gold at the gold price stipulated by the national currency parity without restriction, they actually handled gold through the market, so the gold market developed to a certain extent. It must be pointed out that this is an official market under strict control, and the gold market cannot develop freely. Therefore, until the First World War, only the London gold market was an international market.
The gold standard can ensure the stability of currency exchange rate and promote the smooth development of international trade. Because domestic currency issuance is constrained by the gold reserves owned by the central bank, there will be no excessive inflation. It can also play a regulatory role in the balance of payments. But at the same time, the gold standard system also has its disadvantages, and the most fatal defect is its unstable foundation. The growth of gold stock can't keep up with the continuous expansion of domestic production and circulation and the rapid growth of social wealth, and the contradiction between national economic development and base currency is becoming increasingly acute. Secondly, it often makes a country's domestic monetary policy depend on the outflow or inflow of gold, and it is possible that due to the outflow of gold, even if there is a deficit in foreign trade balance, it still has to adopt a tightening policy; Or forced to adopt an inflation policy because of the inflow of gold. At the beginning of the 20th century, the outbreak of World War I seriously impacted the "gold standard". In 1930s, the worldwide economic crisis broke out, which led to the complete collapse of the "gold standard". Many countries have strengthened trade controls and banned the free trade and import and export of gold. The open gold market lost its foundation and the London gold market closed. One-time access 15 was not reopened until 1954. During the period from 19 14 to 1938, most of the western gold mines were absorbed by the central banks of various countries, and the gold market activities were limited. Since then, although the management of gold has been loosened, the official price has been artificially determined for a long time, and there are strict trade barriers between countries. Therefore, the liquidity of gold is very poor, the market mechanism is seriously suppressed, and the development of the gold market is seriously hindered.
After World War I, 1922 decided to adopt the principle of "saving money" at the World Monetary Conference held in Italy. Except the United States, Britain and France adopt the gold bar standard, while other countries adopt the gold exchange standard. The gold bar standard system is characterized by the fact that gold coins are not circulated in China, and only bank notes representing a certain weight of gold are issued, and bank notes can only be exchanged for gold bars in a limited way. The gold standard system, also known as the "virtual gold standard system", is mainly characterized in that bank notes cannot be exchanged for gold and gold coins in China, but only for foreign exchange. Generally speaking, the currency of this country maintains a fixed parity with the currency of another country that implements the gold standard or gold bar standard, and deposits foreign exchange or gold as a stabilization fund in the latter, thus indirectly implementing the gold standard. In fact, it is a subsidiary monetary system. Of course, the gold bar standard and the gold exchange standard are both weakened gold standards and are very unstable. This fragile system finally collapsed after the world economic crisis of 1929- 1933.
2. The Bretton Woods period (11940s to1early 1970s)
During the period of 1944, Britain and the United States reached a consensus after heated debate. In May of that year, the United States invited representatives of 44 governments involved in the preparation of the United Nations to hold a meeting in Bretton Woods and signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, which established the second international monetary system for mankind after the collapse of the "gold standard". The core of the Bretton Woods system is: (1) based on the US dollar, the US dollar has become the most important international reserve currency in the world; (2) The dollar is directly linked to gold (the official price of gold has been set at 35 1 ounce), and the currencies of other countries are linked to the dollar, so countries can exchange gold from the United States at the official price; (3) Under the fixed exchange rate system, the exchange rates of national currencies and the US dollar can generally only fluctuate at the parity of 1%, and central banks are obliged to intervene when it exceeds the prescribed limit. At this point, the dollar has achieved the status equivalent to gold, becoming the means of payment and reserve currency of all countries in the world. In the Bretton Woods monetary system, the role of gold in circulation and international reserves has decreased, and the dollar has become the protagonist in this system. However, because gold is the last barrier to stabilize this monetary system, the price and flow direction of gold are still strictly controlled, and residents are prohibited from buying and selling gold freely in various countries, so it is difficult for the market mechanism to play an effective role. It took ten years for London gold market to recover.
The establishment of the Bretton Woods monetary system has indeed brought about the unprecedented development of international trade and the deepening interdependence of the global economy for quite some time after the war. However, the Bretton Woods system has inherent defects, that is, the Bretton Woods system, as the main reserve asset in the US dollar, is inherently unstable. Because only by relying on the long-term trade deficit of the United States can the dollar flow out, and other countries can obtain the supply of dollars and become international reserves. But in this way, it will inevitably affect people's confidence in the dollar and cause the dollar crisis. However, if the US dollar keeps the balance of payments, it will cut off the supply of international reserves, resulting in insufficient international liquidity.
In the late 1950s, with the gradual weakening of economic competition in the United States, its balance of payments began to deteriorate. In the 1960s, the United States was mired in the Vietnam War, with a huge fiscal deficit and a great impact on the credibility of the US dollar. A large amount of capital fled, and countries sold dollars and snapped up gold, which greatly reduced the US gold reserves and led to the skyrocketing price of gold in London.
In order to curb the rise of gold prices, maintain the exchange rate of the US dollar and reduce the loss of gold reserves, the United States and eight countries including Britain, Switzerland, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium established the "Gold Master Bank" on June 196 10, and the central banks of the eight countries took out a total of 270 million US dollars of gold, which was kept by the Bank of England. In the late 1960s, the United States further expanded its war of aggression against Vietnam, the balance of payments further deteriorated, and the dollar crisis broke out again. In the first half of March 1968, the outflow of US gold reserves exceeded $654,380.4 billion. In March 14 alone, the trading volume of the London gold market reached a record figure of 350-400 tons. The United States is no longer able to maintain the official price of gold. After consulting with members of the Ministry of Gold and Finance, it announced that it would no longer supply gold to the market at the official price of $35 per ounce. The market price of gold fluctuates freely, but the government or the central bank still settles at the official price. Since then, gold has begun the stage of dual price system. But the dual-price system also lasted for three years, because the balance of payments in the United States was still deteriorating and the dollar was unstable; Second, western countries are dissatisfied with the self-interest principle of the United States, refuse to depreciate despite the dollar crisis, and forcibly maintain a fixed exchange rate. So some European countries have adopted the strategy of inviting you into the urn. Because the United States refused to raise the price of gold and the depreciation of the dollar, they exchanged dollars for American gold reserves. When it was reported in August 197 1 that France and other western European countries wanted to exchange dollars for gold in large quantities, the United States had to announce on August 15 that it would stop fulfilling its obligation to foreign governments or central banks to exchange dollars for gold in the United States. The depreciation of the US dollar in March 1973 once again triggered a wave of selling US dollars and snapping up gold in Europe. The foreign exchange markets in western Europe and Japan had to be closed for 17 days. After consultation, an agreement was finally reached, and western countries abandoned fixed exchange rates and implemented floating exchange rates. At this point, the Bretton Woods monetary system completely collapsed and the reform process of non-monetization of gold began. But from the legal point of view, the non-monetization of gold in the international monetary system was not formally defined until 1978. The International Monetary Fund approved the revised agreement of the International Monetary Fund by a majority of 1978. The agreement deleted all the previous clauses about gold, and announced that gold would no longer be used as the standard of currency valuation, the official price of gold would be cancelled, and gold could be bought and sold freely in the market; Cancel the requirement that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must pay in gold; Sell the 1/6 gold of the International Monetary Fund, and the profits will be used to establish preferential loan funds to help low-income countries; Set up special drawing rights instead of gold for some payments between member countries and IMF, and so on.
During this period, the price of gold has been strictly controlled by the state, and the state has intervened in the gold market from time to time. The gold market is only a regulatory tool for the state to control gold, and it is difficult to play the role of market resource allocation. The function of the market has not been fully exerted.
3. Non-monetization period of gold (1970s to present)
Due to the non-monetization of international gold, gold has become a commodity that can be freely owned and traded. Gold has moved from the national treasury to the homes of ordinary people, and its liquidity has been greatly enhanced, and the scale of gold trading has increased, providing a realistic economic environment for the development and growth of the gold market. The non-monetization of gold in the past 20 years is also a period in which the world gold market can develop. It can be said that the non-monetization of gold has gradually relaxed the control of gold in various countries, which is the policy condition for the development of the gold market today. But it should also be pointed out that there is a lag between the non-monetization of the gold system and the actual non-monetization process. The legal procedure of non-monetization of gold in the international monetary system has been completed, but gold has not completely withdrawn from the financial field in actual economic life. Today, as a recognized financial asset, gold is still active in the investment field and acts as a reserve asset of a country or an individual.
Today's gold is divided into commodity gold and financial gold. The liberalization of national gold control not only enables the development of commodity gold market, but also promotes the rapid development of financial gold market. Moreover, because of the continuous innovation of trading tools, the scale of the gold market has been expanded by dozens and hundreds of times. At present, the trading volume of commodity physical gold is less than 3% of the total trading volume, and more than 90% of the market share is financial derivatives of gold. Central banks around the world still maintain gold reserves as high as 34,000 tons. In the statement of European 15 central banks on September 26th, 1999, it was once again confirmed that gold is still recognized as a financial asset. Therefore, we cannot simply attribute the development of the gold market to the non-monetization of gold, nor can we regard the gold market as a pure commodity market. The objective evaluation is that under the condition of non-monetization of gold in the international monetary system, gold began to develop from the stage dominated by monetary attributes to the stage of returning to commodity attributes, and the state liberalized gold control, making the market mechanism play an increasingly important role in gold circulation and gold resource allocation. But at present, gold is still a special commodity with financial attributes. Therefore, both commodity gold market and financial gold market have been developed. The performance and activity of commodity gold trading and financial gold trading are different in different regions and markets.