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Edgard Milhaud and the case for establishing an international clearing union in the 1930s: a forgotten forerunner of Keynes ?

Author

Listed:
  • Adrien Faudot

    (CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes)

  • Nikolay Nenovsky

    (LEFMI - Laboratoire d’Économie, Finance, Management et Innovation - UR UPJV 4286 - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne)

Abstract

Edgard Milhaud (1873–1964), a professor at the University of Geneva, published a series of texts (from 1932 onwards) promoting the establishment of multilateral international compensation between nation-states, and actively campaigned for this project. His plan centered on a call for a "gold truce" as an alternative to the bilateral clearing agreements that proliferated at the time. The plan drew the attention of several international organizations. It reached the point of arousing the interest of the League of Nations (LON), which decided in 1934 to launch an inquiry (published in 1935) questioning LON members about the project of making clearing agreements multilateral. The Milhaud plan nevertheless fell into oblivion after the Tripartite Agreement (1936) and then the outbreak of WW II. This work aims to situate the Milhaud plan in its intellectual and political context—i.e., the 1930s—analyze its content, and understand its failure. The article also assesses what it had in common with Keynes's plan for an international clearing union developed several years later.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrien Faudot & Nikolay Nenovsky, 2024. "Edgard Milhaud and the case for establishing an international clearing union in the 1930s: a forgotten forerunner of Keynes ?," Post-Print halshs-04279714, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04279714
    DOI: 10.1017/S1053837223000391
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adrien Faudot, 2021. "The Keynes Plan and Bretton Woods debates: the early radical criticisms by Balogh, Schumacher and Kalecki," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 45(4), pages 751-770.
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    3. Edgard MILHAUD, 1949. "For the Liberation of lnternational Trade. The Compensation - Cheque," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 57-104, January.
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    5. Paul LAMBERT, 1963. "The Social Philosophy Of John Maynard Keynes," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 483-515, October.
    6. Harris,Max, 2021. "Monetary War and Peace," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108484954, October.
    7. Bruce A. Champ, 2008. "Stamp scrip: money people paid to use," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Apr.
    8. Schwartz, Anna J, 1997. "From Obscurity to Notoriety: A Biography of the Exchange Stabilization Fund," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 135-153, May.
    9. Von Muralt, 1934. "THE WOERGL EXPERIMENT WITH DEPRECIATING MONEY.-super-(1)," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 48-57, January.
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