World commodities and world currency / by Benjamin Graham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Graham, Benjamin, 1894-1976.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Raw materials.

Primary commodities.

Currency question.

Foreign exchange.

Monetary policy.

Commercial products.

International finance.

Economic stabilization.

Economic history--1945-.

Local Subjects:

Commercial products.

International finance.

Economic stabilization.

Economic history--1945-.

Physical Description:

xvii, 182 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

World commodities and world currencies

Place of Publication:

[New York, N.Y.?] : McGraw-Hill, [1998?]

Summary:

Business leaders, economists, and anyone interested in world finance will welcome the re-issue of World Commodities & World Currencies, Benjamin Graham's classic analysis of systems that limit the twin evils of cyclical inflation and deflation. Expanding on the recommendations described in Storage and Stability (also available as a Benjamin Graham Classic from McGraw-Hill), World Commodities & World Currencies applies Graham's economic reforms to the international sphere, relating them to the world of global investing during World War II and the postwar years.

In Storage and Stability, Graham proposed and described a specific plan to produce and store raw materials so that they could then become available as needed, with the ultimate aim of adjusting supply to demand, stabilizing prices, and increasing the standard of living on a domestic level. In World Commodities & World Currencies, Graham offers a more global analysis of the systems that could reduce dangerous cycles of price instability in order to achieve stability in a postwar economy. Graham, in an astonishing display of foresight, shows how commodity reserves should play an important part in any economic policy.

Throughout the book, Graham maintains that stabilization of commodities offers a comparatively simple technique by which the world could achieve the fourfold objective of foreign-exchange stability, reasonable price stability, protective stockpiles, and--most importantly--a balanced expansion of the world's output and consumption of useful goods.

Readers today will discover that this landmark book has timely interest. In the aftermath of the Asian currencies collapse, and in the face of the organization of the European Common Union and the merging of European banks into a European Central Bank with one common currency, Graham's warnings about the dangers of a floating currency and his trenchant corrective prescriptions bear even greater relevance than ever.

This attractive reproduction of the original 1944 publication features a new foreword by legendary investor and Graham disciple Irving Kahn. World Commodities & World Currencies, is as topical today as when it was first published. It truly offers another rare glimpse into the economic theories and financial strategies of the greatest investment authority of the twentieth century.

Contents:

Chapter I The Problem of Raw Materials 1

Chapter II The Issue of Cartels versus Free Production 13

Chapter III The Paradox of the Stockpile 22

Chapter IV Former Solutions for the Raw Materials Problem 32

Chapter V A Specific Proposal for International Stabilization of Raw Materials 42

Chapter VI Composite Stabilization versus Individual Stabilization 57

Chapter VII The Criteria of a Satisfactory Commodity Unit 72

Chapter VIII Commodity Stability and Currency Stability 83

Chapter IX Commodities, Gold, and Credit as World Money 91

Chapter X Commodity-unit Stabilization and Other Economic Thinking 106

Chapter Notes 123

Appendix I Data Re World Production and Exports of Raw Materials 142

Appendix II Relative Price Movements within and without the Proposed Commodity Unit 145

Appendix III The Storage Aspect of Commodity-reserve Currency 148

Appendix IV-A Commodity Reserve Currency: A Critique / W. T. M. Beale, Jr., M. T. Kennedy, W. J. Winn 151

Appendix IV-B The Critique of Commodity-reserve Currency: A Point-by-point Reply 164

Appendix IV-C The Objective of International Price Stability / Lord Keynes 170

Appendix IV-D The Objective of Long-term Price Stability 173.

Notes:

Facsimile reprint, with a new foreword. Previously published: 1st ed. New York : McGraw-Hill, 1944.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0070248060

OCLC:

39650624