Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Wars and ConflictsΒ  permalink

Currency value as a bet on war outcome.

This discussion has been closed.

Messages: 1 - 1 of 1

  • Message 1.Β 

    Posted by U3280211 (U3280211) on Wednesday, 15th October 2008

    Watching the recent chaos in the markets made me curious about money value during world wars.

    When nations go to war their currencies are, I assume, still tradable on international monetary exchanges?

    Given that the loser in a war usually suffers from hyper-infaltion after capitulaion, would a record of exchange rates for the currencies of the major protagonists in a war provide a constantly moving bet on the likely victor?
    In other words, if the pound was weak against the Deutsche mark in 1942 that is equivalwent to the international market thinking that Britain would probably lose to Germany? If the pound gained strength in early 1945, then that would be a measure of confidence in Allied (and thus British) success.
    So did currency exchange still take place during these conflicts, and if so, would the exchange rate value be a good guide to the day by day 'fortunes of war'?

    (I'm aware that the Bretton Woods agreement fixed the sterling dollar rate at $4.03 to the pound in 1940, but how was this maintained as British fortunes must have looked very bleak in 1941?)

    Link to this forum: Currency value as a bet on war outcome.

    Report message1

Back to top

About this Board

The History message boards are now closed. They remain visible as a matter of record but the opportunity to add new comments or open new threads is no longer available. Thank you all for your valued contributions over many years.

or Β to take part in a discussion.

The message board is currently closed for posting.

The message board is closed for posting.

This messageboard is .

Find out more about this board's

Search this Board

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iD

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ navigation

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Β© 2014 The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.