美国所采的政策

(2)美国所采的政策

消灭黄金政策(Gold Sterilization Policy)，据国际联盟《货币评论》所载，有几种，第一，是使一般人民窖藏黄金，使黄金不致全部流到货币用途上去，在人民负担利息上的损失。但此事不能由政府执行，不得谓之一种政策。第二，是政府发行公债，向市场收买黄金，增加汇兑平衡基金的数量，或增加中央银行的现金准备率。在美国，联邦准备局并且提高会员银行的存款准备率，造成高额的过度准备(Excessive reserve)。在1936年8月至1937年5月之间，联邦准备制度的会员银行存款准备率提高1倍。1937年第四季，准备额平均为70万万元，其中60万万元为法定准备(Required reserve)。若不是提高准备率，则过度准备将达40万万元。^[16]

“In view of the expansion of the physical quantity of current gold supplies and of the increase which has accurred in the value of gold per physical unit in terms of national currencies，the‘sterilization’of gold with the object of preventing an‘excessive’expansion of the volume of money has come to receive considerable attention in recent years.Itmay be of interest briefly to review the variousmethods of sterilization which have been practised.”

“In the first place，it should be observed that the boarding of gold on the part of the public represents an effective formof sterilization.The interest costassociated with sterilization is in this case borne by the private individuals concerned，who voluntarily forgo any return on part of their assets which is held in gold.Monetary policy cannot，of course，rely on this form of sterilization...”

“The rise in the proportion of gold reserves to total assets of central banks which has taken place in great number of countriesmay be regardedas another formof sterilization.It is not suggested that central banks，when increasing their holdings of gold，have deliberately reduced their other assets.The decline in the other assets which has in many cases occurred has often been a reflection of the increased liquidity of the market，which has made possible a reduction in its indebtedness to the central bank...minimumreserve ratios are prescribed by law in most countries，butmaximum ratios have nowhere been applied，and sterilization can，theoretically，proceed until the ratio rises to 100%...”

“In certain countries—the United Kingdom，the United States，the Netherlands，the Argentine—gold imports have been sterilized by special methods，under which Governments or Government funds take up gold with the proceeds of loans issued in themarket.In the United Kingdom，the borrowing powers of the Exchange Equalisation Fund，by which this policy is carried out，were increased by￡200 million—from￡375 to￡575 million—at the beginning of July，1937.”

“In the United States，the increase in the reserve requirements of the member banks of the Federal Reserve Systemmay be regarded as another form of sterilization.The enormous inflow of gold which occurred after 1933 raised the reserve balances of themember banks to exceptionally high levels.In order to prevent this increase fromunduly affecting the domestic supply of credit，the legal minimum reserve ratios were doubled fromAugust，1936 to May，1937.In the last quarter of1937，member-bank reserve balances amounted，on the average，to about$7，000million，of this amount，about$6，000 million were required reserves.If the original ratios were regarded as normal，this means that half the latter figure，or about$3，000 million，was“blocked for the purpose of sterilising a corresponding amount of gold，the interest cost of this sterilization sterilizing being borne by the member banks....”^[17]