Gold Maldistribution

Maldistribution of gold may result from the failure or inability of some countries to adjust the volume of their notes and deposits to the size of their gold reserves, from the existence of impediments to trade, and from differences among the various countries in financial practices. Strictly, gold maldistribution occurs whenever the world's stock of monetary gold is divided among the various countries in such proportions that a given unit of gold does not perform an equivalent amount of money work in each country. Thus maldistribution is not a new phenomenon but was clearly observable before the war. Since 1914 apportionment has become somewhat more lopsided. However, the maldistribution of gold is not a major catastrophe; rather, it is a symptom of disorder in international economic relations.