ABSTRACT
In the chaotic times after the First World War, the prewar world appeared to have been paradise and there was a nostalgic feeling that one should return to it as soon as possible. This was particularly true of the international gold standard which had prevailed at that time and which most countries had to abandon during the war. This standard had guaranteed monetary stability and economic growth for several decades, which now looked like a golden age. The advantages of such a standard had already been praised by David Hume and David Ricardo, because it provided an equilibrium by means of a simple mechanism which seemed to work as if governed by a law of nature.
