Política monetaria y oferta de dinero en uruguay (1931-1959): nuevos contextos y nuevos instrumentos

Abstract

This paper brings a global approach to the principles characteristics of the monetary policy in the period 1931-1959 and its changes related to the national and international context. Two were the most important transformations. On one hand, the increasing role of the Republic Bank of Uruguay (Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay, BROU) in the conduction of the monetary and exchange-rate policy. On the other hand, there were important changes in the monetary regime evolving to a more flexible system as the gold standard was abandoned. Considering the evolution of the emission regime since the beginning of the 20th century we can distinguish four phases: a metallic system until 1929; a period of transition between 1930 and 1934; the period 1935-1946 characterized by the two revaluations of the gold reserves and the introduction of rediscounts and; finally the last years until 1959 with an increasing use of rediscounts of documents as a source for issue money. In addition, we described the evolution of the monetary supply, the link with the economic activity and a first approximation to the effect of money on prices.monetary policy, money supply; Uruguay