Tripartite Agreement of 1936

The Tripartite Agreement was an international monetary agreement entered into by the United States, France, and Great Britain in September 1936. The purpose of the agreement was to stabilize their nations' currencies both at home and in the international exchange markets after the collapse of the international monetary system during the Great Depression.[1]

History

During the Great Depression, international monetary cooperation collapsed among liberal states.[1] Following suspension of the gold standard by Great Britain in 1931 and the United States in 1933, a serious imbalance developed between their currencies and those of the gold bloc countries, particularly France. The devaluation of the dollar and the pound sterling raised import prices and lowered export prices in the United States and Great Britain.

In the United States and Great Britain sound money advocates were divided between those favoring reforms to stabilize the currency and others who called for an end to the gold standard and a managed currency.[2][3][4]

Agreement

The Tripartite Agreement was informal and provisional.[5] Subscribing nations agreed to refrain from competitive depreciation[6] to maintain currency values at existing levels, as long as that attempt did not interfere seriously with internal prosperity. France devalued its currency as part of the agreement. The remaining gold bloc nations, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, also subscribed to the agreement.

Subscribing nations agreed to sell one another gold in the seller's currency at a price agreed in advance.[7][8] The agreement stabilized exchange rates, ending the currency war of 1931 to 1936,[9] but it failed to help the recovery of world trade.

See also

References
  1. Harris, Max (2021). Monetary War and Peace: London, Washington, Paris, and the Tripartite Agreement of 1936. Studies in Macroeconomic History. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108754187. ISBN 978-1-108-48495-4.
  2. Clarke, Stephen V.O. (1977). "The influence of economists on the tripartite agreement of September 1936". European Economic Review. 10 (3): 375–389. doi:10.1016/S0014-2921(77)80005-6.
  3. Gardner, Lloyd C. (1964). Economic Aspects of New Deal Diplomacy. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-03190-9.
  4. Leuchtenburg, William E. (1963). Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 978-0-06-183696-1.
  5. "After the Gold Standard, 1931-1999" (PDF). 1936 September 25 – October 13. World Gold Council. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  6. "The IMF Story" (PDF). Finance & Development: 14–15. September 2004. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  7. "Timeline 1936". Timelines of History. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  8. "After the Gold Standard, 1931-1999". World Gold Council. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  9. Robert A. Mundell and Armand Clesse (2000). The Euro as a stabilizer in the international economic. Springer. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-7923-7755-9.
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