"Straining at the Anchor".

• Position: Bureau Books - Brief Article

Straining at the Anchor. The Argentine Currency Board and the Search for Macroeconomic Stability, 1880-1935 is available from the University of Chicago Press this fall for $35.00. This NBER monograph was written by Gerardo della Paolera and Alan M. Taylor.

The book follows the various fluctuations of the Argentine economy from its post-revolutionary volatility to a period of unprecedented prosperity and finally to a dramatic decline from which the country has never fully recovered. The authors examine the solutions that Argentina tried to implement, including the nation's first currency board which favored a strict gold-standard monetary regime. With many countries now using or considering monetary...