Currency Unions

A currency union is when several independent sovereign nations share a common currency. This has been a recurring phenomenon in monetary history. In this article I study the theoretical foundations of such unions, and discuss some important currency unions in history, most notably the case of the US. Finally I contrast the design of the EMU with economic theories and historical experiences of currency unions

Introduction: new research in monetary history - A map

This handbook aims to provide a comprehensive (though obviously not exhaustive) picture of state-of-the-art international scholarship on the history of money and currency. The chapters of this handbook cover a wide selection of research topics. They span chronologically from antiquity to nowadays and are geographically stretched from Latin America to Asia, although most of them focus on Western Europe and the USA, as a large part of the existing research does. The authors of these chapters constitute, we hope, a balanced sample of various generations of scholars who contributed to what Barry Eichengreen defined as "the new monetary and financial history" – an approach that combines the analysis of monetary aggregates and policies with the structure and dynamics of the banking sector and financial markets. We have structured this handbook in ten broad thematic parts: the historical origins of money; money, coinage, and the state; trade, money markets, and international currencies; money and metals; monetary experiments; Asian monetary systems; exchange rate regimes; monetary integration; central banking and monetary policy; and aggregate price shocks. In this introduction, we offer for each part some historical context, a few key insights from the literature, and a brief analytical summary of each chapter. Our aim is to draw a map that hopefully will help readers to organize their journey through this very wide and diverse research area

In vitro regulation of luteal function in mares

Dispersed equine luteal cells collected during dioestrus (days 7-10), before (days 30-35 of pregnancy) and after (days 40-45 of pregnancy) the onset of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) secretion were incubated in defined medium for 24 h to determine steroid production at these specific stages of the reproductive cycle. Luteal cells collected at these three reproductive stages were also incubated for 4 h in defined medium with increasing amounts of eLH, eCG and hCG added to determine the effect of gonadotropins on luteal progesterone and oestrogen production. Progesterone and oestrogen accumulation proceeded in a linear fashion during the 24-h incubation. No differences in rate of progesterone accumulation were observed between the three reproductive stages. A significant effect of reproductive stage on rate of oestrogen accumulation was observed, with oestrogen production being greatest in luteal cells from pregnant mares after the onset of eCG secretion and lowest in luteal cells from mares in dioestrus. Addition of gonadotropin to the medium resulted in a dose-dependent increase in progesterone accumulation during a 4-h incubation at most reproductive stages. However, a significant increase in progesterone accumulation was only observed at supraphysiological concentrations of gonadotropins. Addition of gonadotropin did not result in a change in oestrogen accumulation. The results of this study demonstrate that luteal oestrogen secretion increases with pregnancy and is highest during eCG secretion. These experiments did not demonstrate an effect of gonadotropin on luteal oestrogen secretion in vitro even though an effect on luteal progesterone secretion was observed. The lack of a gonadotropin-induced increase in oestrogen secretion is most likely due to the short duration of the incubation