ABSTRACT
During the interwar period, the northern half of the Mediterranean world was characterized by the existence of nation States and national economies, while the southern half was politically characterized by colonial situations, which prevented the full development of the typical institutions of national economies. Among these institutions were central banks. Most nation States in the Mediterranean world had already developed full-fledged, or at least embryonic, central banks before the First World War. The role and sophistication of central banks increased in the nation States of the Mediterranean world during the interwar period. The situation was quite different in the colonial part of the Mediterranean world, where central banks did not exist or remained embryonic. It was the post-Second World War decolonization process that finally endowed all Mediterranean countries with independent nation States and the corresponding economic institutions, among them central banks.
