The maldistribution of reserves can be understood by focusing on the systematic
interaction of central banks. This approach builds on the literature that characterizes
the interwar gold standard as a competitive struggle for gold between countries
that viewed the size of their gold reserve as a measure of national prestige and as
insurance against financial instability. France and the United States in particular,
but gold standard countries generally, repeatedly raised their discount rates relative
to one another in efforts to attract gold from abroad. By leading to the accumulation
of excess reserves, these restrictive policies exacerbated the problem of inadequate
liquidity, but by offsetting one another they also failed to achieve their objective
of attracting gold from abroad….