Domestic Politics of International Monetary Order: the Gold Standard

This page is a summary of an essay written by Lawrence Broz, titled "The Domestic Politics of International Monetary Order: the Gold Standard." Recognizing that a smoothly functioning monetary regime deviates from "natural state of affairs," Broz is deeply concerned with the question of how macroeconomic policy cooperation among member states--the key prerequisite of the regime's existence--is achievable. Whereas Charles Kindleberger attributes this to the existence of a hegemonic economic power, Broz calls this hegemonic stability theory into question on the grounds that empirical work does not fully support it, and that the model's assumption that member states' have homogeneous preferences is contrary to reality.

International monetary regime is a set of clearly defined principles, rules and conventions that regulate and harmonize the economic policies of member nations.