The currency boards of Trinidad (1906-1951) and Barbados (1938-1951)

Sidharth SAH

Abstract


Abstract. We provide the first spreadsheet data series and legislative history of note issue by the Commissioners of Currency, in Trinidad, and the Board of Commissioners of Currency, in Barbados. The paper assesses how orthodox the operations of these two currency boards were, analyzing both the legislation and statistics from their balance sheets. The two boards’ operations are compared in their structure and level of orthodoxy. There is also some limited discussion of the effects of the boards on the colonies’ economies. The paper makes the various balance sheet data available in machine-readable form for the first time, in a companion spreadsheet workbook.

Keywords. Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Currency board.

JEL. A10; E59; N16.

Keywords


Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Currency board.

Full Text:


References


Some primary source documents can be found in the Digital Archive on Currency Boards. [Retrieved from].

Armstrong, E. (2010). A History of Money and Banking in Barbados, 1627-1973. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.

Barbados. Annual Report, (1929/1930-1963 & 1964). Great Britain (United Kingdom). Colonial Office, Barbados: Report for… (1929/1930-1930/1931); Colonial Office, Annual Report on the Social and Economic Progress of the People of Barbados (1931/1932-1938/1939); not published 1939-1945 because of World War II; Colonial Office, Annual Report on Barbados (1947-1949), Colonial Office, Report on Barbados for the Year... (1950 & 1951-1963 & 1964). London: His / Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. (This series was called Colonial Reports until World War II and Colonial Annual Reports afterwards; it was suspended during the war for most colonies.)

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1453/jest.v9i4.2403

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