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Smithsonian Agreement
The Smithsonian Agreement, announced in December 1971, created a new dollar standard, whereby the currencies of a number of industrialized states were pegged to the US dollar. These currencies were allowed to fluctuate by 2.25% against the dollar. The Smithsonian Agreement was created when the Group of Ten (G-10) states (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) raised the price of gold to 38 dollars, an 8.5% increase over the previous price at which the US government had promised to redeem dollars for gold. In effect, the changing gold price devalued the dollar by 7.9%. Background The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 established an international fixed exchange rate system based on the gold standard, in which currencies were pegged to the United States dollar, itself convertible into gold at $35/ounce. A deteriorating balance of trade, growing public debt incurred by the Vietnam War and Great Socie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Developed Country
A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income, level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living. Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate. Different definitions of developed countries are provided by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; moreover, HDI ranking is used to reflect the composite index of life expectancy, education, and income per capita. In 2025, 40 countries fit all three criteria, while an additional 21 countries fit two out of three. Developed countries have generally more advanced post-industrial economies, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Debt
A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occurs when a government's expenditures exceed revenues. Government debt may be owed to domestic residents, as well as to foreign residents. If owed to foreign residents, that quantity is included in the country's external debt. In 2020, the value of government debt worldwide was $87.4 US trillion, or 99% measured as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). Government debt accounted for almost 40% of all debt (which includes corporate and household debt), the highest share since the 1960s. The rise in government debt since 2007 is largely attributable to stimulus measures during the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 recession. Governments may take on debt when the government's spending desires do not match government revenue flows. Taking deb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group Of Ten (economic)
The Group of Ten (G-10 or G10) refers to the group of countries that agreed to participate in the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), an agreement to provide the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with additional funds to increase its lending ability. History The GAB was established in 1962, when the governments of eight International Monetary Fund (IMF) members—Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and the central banks of two others, Germany and Sweden, agreed to make resources available to the IMF with an additional $6 billion of their resources. The additional money was intended to allow the IMF to have increased lending resources. In 1964, the funds were used by the IMF to rescue the pound sterling. The G-10 grew in 1964 by the association of the eleventh member, Switzerland, then not a member of the IMF, but the name of the group remained the same. Activities The GAB enables the IMF to borrow specified am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington D
Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. Washington may also refer to: Places England * Washington Old Hall, ancestral home of the family of George Washington * Washington, Tyne and Wear, a town in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough * Washington, West Sussex, a village and civil parish Greenland * Cape Washington, Greenland * Washington Land Philippines *New Washington, Aklan, a municipality *Washington, a barangay in Catarman, Northern Samar *Washington, a barangay in Escalante, Negros Occidental *Washington, a barangay in San Jacinto, Masbate *Washington, a barangay in Surigao City United States * Fort Washington (disambiguati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the Federal government of the United States#branches, three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. The Smithsonian Institution has historical holdings of over 157 million items, 21 museums, 21 libraries, 14 education and research centers, a zoo, and historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in Washington, D.C. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York (state), New York, and Virg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiat Currency
Fiat money is a type of government-issued currency that is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver, nor by any other tangible asset or commodity. Fiat currency is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, and is authorized by government regulation. Since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1976 by the Jamaica Accords, the major currencies in the world are fiat money. Fiat money generally does not have intrinsic value and does not have use value. It has value only because the individuals who use it as a unit of account or, in the case of currency, a medium of exchange agree on its value. They trust that it will be accepted by merchants and other people as a means of payment for liabilities. Fiat money is an alternative to commodity money, which is a currency that has intrinsic value because it contains, for example, a precious metal such as gold or silver which is embedded in the coin. Fiat also differs from representative money, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Department Of The Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint, U.S. Mint, two federal agencies responsible for printing all paper currency and minting United States coinage, coins. The treasury executes Currency in circulation, currency circulation in the domestic fiscal system, Tax collector, collects all taxation in the United States, federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, manages United States Treasury security, U.S. government debt instruments, Bank regulation#Licensing and supervision, licenses and supervises banks and Savings and loan association, thrift institutions, and advises the Federal government of the United States#Legislative branch, legislative and Federal government of the United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convertibility
Convertibility is the quality that allows money or other financial instruments to be converted into other liquid stores of value. Convertibility is an important factor in international trade, where instruments valued in different currencies must be exchanged. Currency trading Freely convertible currencies have immediate value on the different international markets, and few restrictions on the manner and amount that can be traded for another currency. Free convertibility is a major feature of a hard currency. Some countries pass laws restricting the legal exchange rates of their currencies or requiring permits to exchange more than a certain amount. Some currencies, such as the North Korean won, the Transnistrian ruble, and the Cuban national peso, are officially nonconvertible and can only be exchanged on the black market. If an official exchange rate is set, its value on the black market is often lower. Convertibility controls may be introduced as part of an overall monetary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th Vice President of the United States, vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, and also as a United States House of Representatives, representative and United States Senate, senator from California. Presidency of Richard Nixon, His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, ''détente'' with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. Nixon was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of financial panics (particularly the panic of 1907) led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises. Although an instrument of the U.S. government, the Federal Reserve System considers itself "an independent central bank because its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the president or by anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the board of governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms." Over the years, events such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s have led to the expansion of the roles and responsibi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Gold Pool
The London Gold Pool was the pooling of gold reserves by a group of eight central banks in the United States and seven European countries that agreed on 1 November 1961 to cooperate in maintaining the Bretton Woods System of fixed-rate convertible currencies and defending a gold price of US$35 per troy ounce by interventions in the London bullion market, London gold market. The central banks coordinated concerted methods of gold sales to balance spikes in the market price of gold as determined by the London morning gold fixing while buying gold on price weaknesses. The United States provided 50% of the required gold supply for sale. The price controls were successful for six years until the system became unworkable. The pegged price of gold was too low, and after runs on gold, the British pound, and the US dollar occurred, France decided to withdraw from the pool. The London Gold Pool collapsed in March 1968. The London Gold Pool controls were followed with an effort to suppress th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
