The gold exchange standard in theory : Keynes's original approach.

The aim of the dissertation is to highlight the richness of Keynes's normative view of the Gold Exchange Standard during his alleged orthodox period, i.e., during the years of the writing of his Indian Currency and Finance, his Tract on Monetary Reform and his Treatise on Money books. It argues that while the salient feature of this system, the economy in gold, is traditionally interpreted as an end desired in itself, in Keynes's mind it rather represents, in all of these writings, a device for achieving subsequent objectives. His plea for this system is thus not explained on the grounds that it is a cheaper kind of Gold Standard, as the literature suggests; it is based on the author's aim of reducing the role of gold in the monetary system so that monetary authorities can be better equipped to protect the internal price stability during the international monetary fluctuations. This dissertation thus discloses Keynes's original approach to the Gold Exchange Standard and shows that his heterodoxy on monetary matters actually started since the very beginning of his career.