Half a century of the world money development

The article provides a general description of the world money development in both developed and developing countries during the second half of 20th century. We were primarily focusing on the long run trends in dollar gold prices, monetary aggregates (broad and narrow money), foreign exchange reserves, inflation and interest rates. We found that after relatively tranquil periods of fifties and sixties, next three decades witnessed dramatic changes in the world economy. The emphasis that was given to the analysis of the relation of the dollar gold prices to the world reserve currencies (EUR, CHF, GBP and JPY) by means of state-space model confirmed negative correlation between these variables. Subsequently we discussed a concept of neutrality and superneutrality of money in the light of GDP dynamics during monitored period and practical aspects of monetary policy. In spite of some recent empirical findings, we express our belief in the long-run neutrality and superneutrality of money and in relative non-activistic monetary policy with price stability as its primary goal.