The Monetary Conservative

by Chivvis, Christopher S.

• ISBN13: 9780875804170
• ISBN10: 0875804179
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Northern Illinois Univ Pr

Summary

One of the 20th century#x19;s most prescient critics of the role of the U.S. dollar in the global economy, Jacques Rueff (1896#x13;1978) was also one of Europe#x19;s foremost free market thinkers, a proponent of the gold standard, and a major expert on the perils of inflation. In Rueff#x19;s day, moderate conservatism was linked with liberal political economy, and Rueff considered himself a #x1C;liberal#x1D; in the sense that he believed in the free market. This first major English-language work on Rueff explains his economic philosophy and its significance for the present, placing it in the context of the Great Depression and Europe#x19;s post-World War II recovery. Chivvis presents a new angle on the history of free market ideas and their alternatives, illuminating a conservative strain of free market thought hitherto much ignored. Rueff#x19;s thought remains highly relevant in the current economic climate, and The Monetary Conservative will be of broad interest to policymakers and educated lay readers. It is also essential reading for economists, political economists, and historians of neoliberalism, France, and modern European politics.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction-Jacques Rueff and Twentieth-century Free Market Thought	p. 3
The Engineer Economist	p. 17
The Failure of Postwar Reconstruction	p. 37
Rueff and French Economic Strategy during the Depression	p. 67
The Crisis of Liberalism and the Future of Liberal Capitalism in the 1930s	p. 87
L'Ordre Social and the War	p. 101
The Monetary Conservative in the Keynesian Era
Reconstruction and Inflation	p. 115
Keynes, the Postwar "Age of Inflation," and European Integration	p. 132
De Gaulle, the 1958 Reform, and the Franc Nouveau	p. 149
De Gaulle, Gold, and the Dollar	p. 159
Conclusion-Rueff and Monetary Conservatism in Twentieth-century Perspective	p. 178
Notes	p. 191
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 231
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