Using an inter-disciplinary and global approach this book examines the different roles gold played in the international economy from the late 19th century until today. It gives a complete and comprehensive overview of the many facets of the global gold market's organization from the extraction of this precious metal to its consumption.

Foreword: Gold Has a History; Olivier Feiertag Introduction: Towards a Global History of Gold; Sandra Bott 1. The Global Gold Market and the International Monetary System; Catherine R. Schenk 2. The Gold Standard in Brazil and Mexico in the Early Twentieth Century; Steven Topik 3. The Bank of England as the World Gold Market-Maker during the Classical Gold Standard Era, 1889-1910; Stefano Ugolini 4. Gold Refining in London: The End of a Rainbow 1919-1922; Michele Blagg 5. Gold as a Diplomatic Tool: How the Threat of Gold Purchases Worked as Leverage in International Monetary Relations, 1960-1968; Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl 6. The Hong Kong Gold Market during the 1960s; Catherine R. Schenk 7. South African Gold at the Heart of the Competition between the Zurich and the London Financial Centres in the Bretton Woods Era; Sandra Bott 8. Market Status/Status Markets: The London Gold Fixing in the Bretton Woods Era; Rachel Harvey