The major trading nations, primarily the British Commonwealth countries and the United States, entered into the first so-called international monetary system--the gold standard. The society of international trading nations practiced the gold standard from about 1880 to 1914. A majority of countries used this system to settle their international transactions balances. Gold standard currencies were valued in terms of a gold equivalent. For example, one ounce of gold was valued at U.S.$20.67 and all other currencies were linked to the dollar in a system of fixed exchange rates. Thus, the gold standard resulted in a system of fixed exchange rates among participating nations. Such stable exchange rates were considered a necessity to increasing trade among gold standard nations.
　　主要貿(mào)易國家，首先是英聯(lián)邦國家和美國，開始實施所謂的國際貨幣體系——金本位制。國際貿(mào)易國家組織大約在1880-1914年期間實行金本位制。大多數(shù)國家利用這一制度安排其國際貿(mào)易差額的支付結(jié)算。金本位貨幣以含金量表示其價值。例如，一盎司黃金值20.67美元，所有其他貨幣按固定匯率與美元掛鉤。因此，金本位制導(dǎo)致各參與國之間形成固定匯率制。這種穩(wěn)定的匯率被認(rèn)為是實行金本位制的國家增加貿(mào)易所必須的。
　　The quantity theory of money was the foundation of the gold standard. It is expressed in the equation MV = PQ, where M is the money stock, V is the velocity of that money stock circulating in the economy, P is the price of goods, and Q is the quantity of goods produced by the economy. In a gold standard economy, if the country had deficit in trade with the rest of the world, the result would be an outflow of gold to settle the deficit. This would cause M to fall and, thus, P would fall. The decline in prices would make the country’s exports less expensive to the rest of the world and they would increase. The resulting surplus would cause an inflow of gold, M would increase, P would increase, exports would fall, and the cycle would continue from disequilibrium to equilibrium to disequilibrium, and so forth.　　
　　貨幣數(shù)量學(xué)說①是金本位制的基礎(chǔ)理論。它可以用MV=PQ等式表示，其中M是貨幣儲備，V是貨幣存量在經(jīng)濟中流通的速度，P是商品的價格，Q是經(jīng)濟中生產(chǎn)出來的商品數(shù)量。在金本位制經(jīng)濟中，如果該國與世界上其他國家進(jìn)行貿(mào)易時發(fā)生逆差，結(jié)果是黃金流出以抵補逆差。這會引起M下降，從而，P也會下降。價格下降會使該國的出口商品比世界其他地方便宜，出口增加。由此產(chǎn)生的順差會引起黃金的流入，M增加，P也會增加，出口下降，出現(xiàn)從不平衡到平衡，從平衡到不平衡依次周轉(zhuǎn)，循環(huán)往復(fù)。
　　A number of problems emerged with the gold standard. This monetary system assumed that the major settling currencies, namely the pound sterling and the dollar were backed by gold. Gold is a finite commodity. Its supply is limited, but international trade had expanded after the Industrial Revolution. Although the period was one of stability and growth -- a major argument espoused by those who advocate a return to the gold standard, this environment may have been more a result of the absence of war or serious global economic shocks, although the recession at the beginning of the twentieth century was quite severe in the United States.　　
　　伴隨金本位制出現(xiàn)許多問題。這一貨幣制度假設(shè)，主要結(jié)算貨幣，即英鎊和美元由黃金支撐。黃金是一種有限的商品，其供應(yīng)量是有限的，但工業(yè)革命后國際貿(mào)易擴大。雖然該時期是穩(wěn)定增長的時期之一—由那些鼓吹重返金本位制的人提出的一個主要問題是，這一環(huán)境更多地是由于沒有戰(zhàn)爭，或者說沒有嚴(yán)重的全球性經(jīng)濟震蕩的結(jié)果，雖然在二十世紀(jì)初在美國發(fā)生了嚴(yán)重衰退。
　　World War I caused a severe shock to the system and the United States and Great Britain went off the gold standard. The former returned to the gold standard in 1919 and became even more prominent in world trade than Great Britain. Inflation in Europe, especially in Germany, during the 1920s prohibited restoration of the gold standard because differential inflation among the world’s trading nations made it difficult to determine appropriate exchange rates. Finally, the United States went off the standard in 1933 as the Great Depression and the retaliation against the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, enacted by the U.S. government, led to a virtual halt in global trade. The depression resulted in a severe contraction of international trade and investment. Nations allowed their currencies to depreciate as a means to solve their international balance of payments deficits, and this movement led to global currency instability, further eroding the usefulness of the gold standard.
　　第一次世界大戰(zhàn)是對該制度的一次嚴(yán)重打擊，美國和大不列顛放棄金本位制。美國于1919年重返金本位制，在世界貿(mào)易中其作用超過英國。歐洲的通貨膨脹，尤其是發(fā)生在二十世紀(jì)二十年代期間的德國通貨膨脹，阻礙其恢復(fù)金本位制，因為世界貿(mào)易國之間不同程度的通貨膨脹，使其決定適當(dāng)?shù)膮R率困難重重。最終，由于美國在1933年發(fā)生大蕭條，放棄了金本位制；美國政府頒布了針對Smoot-Hawley關(guān)稅的報復(fù)性關(guān)稅，導(dǎo)致全球貿(mào)易的一度中斷。大蕭條使國際貿(mào)易與投資極度萎縮。各國任其貨幣貶值，作為解決其國際收支逆差的手段，這一趨勢導(dǎo)致全球貨幣不穩(wěn)定，進(jìn)一步削弱了金本位制的有效性。
　　 注①貨幣數(shù)量學(xué)說是指物價隨貨幣流通量之多寡而升降的理論。