From Obscurity to Notoriety: A Biography of the Exchange Stabilization Fund / Anna J. Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Anna J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5699.

NBER working paper series no. w5699

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

From Obscurity to Notoriety

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Summary:

The U.S. Treasury's $20 billion loan to Mexico in January 1995 from the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) brought to public notice the fund that had functioned in obscurity since its authorization by the Gold Reserve Act of January 31, 1934. The design of the ESF, as set forth in the statute, contributed to its obscurity. Its stated mission was to stabilize the exchange value of the dollar, but it has also assumed a role that had no mandate, that of lender to favored countries. ESF's intervention activities and the Federal Reserve's warehousing of ESF foreign currency assets are questionable. A statistical profile of the ESF accounts for the growth of its working balance from $200 million in 1934 to $42.6 billion in assets in 1995.

Notes:

Print version record

August 1996.