In his book, Goodbye America! Globalisation, Debt and the Dollar Empire, Mike Rowbotham raised for consideration, Keynes', ultimately unsuccessful, proposal for an "International Clearing Union" and a "Bancor" international trade currency -- intended to foster international trade balances. As Mike wrote in Goodbye America: ...Keynes proposed a new, neutral unit of international currency -- the 'Bancor' -- and a new institution -- the International Clearing or Currency Union (ICU). All international trade would be measured in Bancors. Exporting would accrue Bancors, importing would expend Bancors. Nations were expected to maintain, within a small percentage, a zero account with the ICU. This would indicate that they had an overall equivalence of imports and exports. Each nation's Bancor account would also be related to its currency through a fixed, but adjustable, exchange rate. The key feature of Keynes proposal was that it placed an equal obligation on creditor and debtor nations to maintain a balance of trade ... Nations that imported more than they exported -- debtor nations -- would pay a small interest charge to the Clearing Union on their overdrawn account. This would encourage those nations to promote exports by a range of domestic policies as well as marginal currency devaluation. Equally, nations that ran an aggressive trade policy and exported more than they imported would also be charged by the Clearing Union for their surplus account. This would encourage those nations to find ways to spend their excess Bancors back in debtor nations -- or gradually lose that surplus...
As Mike wrote in Goodbye America:
...Keynes proposed a new, neutral unit of international currency -- the 'Bancor' -- and a new institution -- the International Clearing or Currency Union (ICU). All international trade would be measured in Bancors. Exporting would accrue Bancors, importing would expend Bancors. Nations were expected to maintain, within a small percentage, a zero account with the ICU. This would indicate that they had an overall equivalence of imports and exports. Each nation's Bancor account would also be related to its currency through a fixed, but adjustable, exchange rate. The key feature of Keynes proposal was that it placed an equal obligation on creditor and debtor nations to maintain a balance of trade ... Nations that imported more than they exported -- debtor nations -- would pay a small interest charge to the Clearing Union on their overdrawn account. This would encourage those nations to promote exports by a range of domestic policies as well as marginal currency devaluation. Equally, nations that ran an aggressive trade policy and exported more than they imported would also be charged by the Clearing Union for their surplus account. This would encourage those nations to find ways to spend their excess Bancors back in debtor nations -- or gradually lose that surplus...
The key feature of Keynes proposal was that it placed an equal obligation on creditor and debtor nations to maintain a balance of trade ...
Nations that imported more than they exported -- debtor nations -- would pay a small interest charge to the Clearing Union on their overdrawn account. This would encourage those nations to promote exports by a range of domestic policies as well as marginal currency devaluation. Equally, nations that ran an aggressive trade policy and exported more than they imported would also be charged by the Clearing Union for their surplus account. This would encourage those nations to find ways to spend their excess Bancors back in debtor nations -- or gradually lose that surplus...
The Bancor thing seemed to be on the up and up.
