從黃金到貨幣

????下面，我們來看一下世界各國用黃金衡量商品的機制。比如：金本位制。由于黃金無法滿足日常使用的需要，因此每個國家都會發行貨幣，并將貨幣與黃金掛鉤，或者采取所謂的金本位制。概括地講，目前各國使用的金本位制共有三種：（1）純粹或古典金本位制：紙幣可兌換黃金——美國和瑞典均采用這種本位制；（2）金條本位制：只有大量的紙幣才能兌換黃金（可以購買金條但不能購買金幣）——英國、法國和比利時采用這種本位制；（3）金匯兌本位制：紙幣與實行嚴格本位制的其他國家的黃金儲備掛鉤——換句話說，就是以黃金為基礎，本國貨幣可以兌換其他國家的紙幣。按照金匯兌本位制發行的信貸背后，黃金儲備可能包括也可能不包括黃金以及實行金本位制國家的紙幣。奧地利、波蘭、羅馬尼亞等都采取這種“本國紙幣與他國金本位紙幣掛鉤”的制度。

????在這三種金本位制下，還有數十種不同的衍生制度，有些國家甚至采用了混合制度。這些制度之間的微妙差別巨大，新型金匯兌本位制的出現，開創了一種全新的國際關系。（奧地利在一戰之前采用了這種制度，而目前之所以大受歡迎，則主要是出于戰后的需要。）但這種制度也產生了一種悖論：既然任何國家都可能采用這種制度，如果所有國家都采用了，則這種制度在事實上也就不復存在了。既然是基于金本位，那么必須有一個采用金本位制的國家存在。金匯兌本位制的整個機制正在成型階段。但一國將另外一國的黃金作為準備金的想法確實存在，并且也確實能夠發揮作用，前提是該國能夠清楚地意識到這種做法的爭議性。

????既然已經了解了方法，下一步就是要觀察執行情況。第一個問題是，需要為貨幣儲備多少黃金或金匯兌。政府根據經驗認為，他們所持有黃金的價值應該是流通貨幣的30%到40%。金匯兌制國家也會保持同樣比例的金匯兌。通常情況下，該比例將由法律強制規定。但法律規定通常是以銀行業的經驗作為依據，只是粗略代表了該國的金融家們認定的安全界限。美國要求40%，法國要求35%，意大利要求40%。英國的機制較為復雜，法律規定了按照相對數量的黃金儲備，批準發行的最大貨幣數量，實際上的比例為33%。一個國家所擁有的黃金可作為銀行所發行紙幣的準備金，或作為紙幣或其他債券的保證金。儲備制度司空見慣，但窮盡一生或許也研究不透各國的相關法律。但其實所有機制背后都有一個核心思想：國家必須保持足夠的價值——黃金或金匯兌——以維持人們對其貨幣的信心，并保證有足夠的備用現金，可以用于償還債務。問題再次出現：如果所有人都要求立刻取回自己的錢，這樣的要求可能無法實現。但經驗證明，始終保持穩定的黃金-貨幣比例的國家，不會因為國民同時需要黃金而陷入窘境。增加貨幣發行而不增加黃金儲備，并不會終結黃金作為最終擔保物這一功能的擴張。在開始考慮由于這種擴張所引發的問題之前，我們的推論或許應該更進一步。

????Gold Into More Money

????Consider now the machinery by which gold measures the commodities of the world. Exhibit A: the gold standard. As there is not enough metal for everyday use, each nation issues currency and agrees to relate its currency to gold or to go on what is called a gold standard. There are, broadly speaking, three types of gold standard in use. There are (I) the absolute or orthodox standard: paper money is redeemable in gold -- the U. S. and Sweden are committed to this make of gold standard; (2) the gold bullion standard: paper money is only redeemable in gold in large quantities (you can buy a gold bar but not a gold coin) England, France, and Belgium use this type; (3) the gold exchange standard: paper money is supported by the reserves of some other country which is on a strict gold standard -- in other words currency is exchangeable for paper based on gold. The reserve behind credit issued on gold exchange may or may not contain gold metal along with the paper of a gold standard country. Austria, Poland, Rumania, etc., are on this paper-based-on-paper-based-on-gold basis.

????There are dozens of different sub-species, hybrids, etc., etc. The subtleties involved in these arrangements are enormous, and the introduction of the relatively new gold exchange standard (Austria used it before the War, but its present popularity was born of post-War necessity) opens up a whole new field of international relationship. It also introduces the paradox that, while any country may use it, if every country did, it would, ipso facto, cease to exist. For being based on a gold standard, it implies the existence of one. The whole machinery of gold exchange standard is in the formative stage. But the idea of a country's using another's gold as a reserve does exist and does work, if only with the din of controversy in its metaphorical ears.

????Having suggested the methods, the next step is to observe what we may of the execution. The first problem is how much gold or gold exchange should be reserved against currency. Experience has convinced governments that they should have gold on hand to the value of 30 or 40 per cent of their currency in circulation. And gold exchange nations keep about the same ratio of gold exchange. The ratios are, generally, fixed by law. But the legal requirements are universally based on banking experience and represent roughly what the financiers of the nation think a safe margin. The U.S. requires 40 per cent, France 35, Italy 40, etc. England's system is involved, and legal requirements are phrased in terms of maximum amounts of currency authorizable against certain sums of reserve, in effect necessitating a 33 per cent ratio. The gold a nation possesses may be figured as reserve behind actual bank notes issued, or as backing up these notes and other obligations. Reservations are the rule, and a lifetime could be spent studying the laws of various lands. But back of all systems runs this idea: a country must keep enough value -- gold or gold exchange -- on hand to preserve man's confidence in its currency, to have enough cash in the till to meet its obligations as presented. Once more: if everyone asked for his money at once, he couldn't get it. But experience has shown that a stable country maintaining about these ratios will never find itself embarrassed by too many of its citizens demanding gold at the same time. This issuance of more currency than gold does not end the expansion of the metal's use as a final guarantee, and before we can take up the problems which have arisen as a result of such expansion we will have to touch on the further projection.