BLOCS, ZONES AND BANDS - INTERNATIONAL MONETARY HISTORY IN LIGHT OF RECENT THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Trends in international finance in recent decades have inspired consid erable research on bloc- and band-based international monetary arrange ments. From this literature have emerged models providing the basis fo r much recent work in international monetary economics. To date, howev er, their application to historical experience hers been rare. We ther efore highlight parallels between modern-day target zones on the one h and and the classical and inter-war gold standards and Bretton Woods S ystem on the other. Ne suggest that bloc-based international monetary arrangements are in fact an historical commonplace, they have been the rule rather than the exception.