In the past, the value of the currency came from the same materials it was made of, such as gold or silver, whose exchange value was similar to their original value, until the problem of “supported currencies” arose, so what happened after that?
At the end of the 19th century, the shortcomings of this system led to the adoption of the so-called "gold standard", a system in which the currency in circulation had no value in itself, but was secured by a similar amount of gold.
Gold standard system
The Spanish "Jordan Mondial" mentioned that the proposal for the gold standard system came with the Bretton Woods Agreements of 1944 under the auspices of the United States.
In that period, the United States emerged from World War II as a major military and economic power in the world, which gave it enough weight for the rest of the countries to accept a system that compares all currencies to the dollar.
This country has pledged to maintain the stable value of its currency with respect to gold, while the rest of the countries are committed to adopting the dollar as a reserve currency.
The site pointed out that the economic problems experienced by the United States in the early seventies of the last century prompted then-US President Richard Nixon in 1971 to acknowledge the need to end this system thirty years after its establishment.
After that, the value of the dollar, and with it the rest of the currencies, is no longer linked to the gold standard, but rather its value fluctuates depending on supply and demand in the market.
Mandatory criticism
The site stated that money that is not backed by gold or any other precious metal or any other currency such as the dollar is known as “fiat money” (currencies declared by governments to be legal), and the priority it enjoys has become clear at the global level.
This does not change the fact that the value of these funds is also affected by many factors that can in turn affect the foreign exchange market, such as the price of precious metals such as gold, central bank credits, or the public debt of a country, and other things.
The most important factor in this market lies in the confidence raised by the currency itself, and this confidence usually depends on the general impression raised by the country and its currency, and the law of supply and demand, which makes the value of currencies change.
This is the reason why the very comprehensive control exercised over the value of currencies is monitored, as the amount of money in circulation is monitored and measures are taken to devalue the currency or increase its cost as necessary, according to the same site
As for the institutions that issue currency, it is possible to distinguish between two types of issuance, one is free and the other is regulated, and the first issuance is now almost obsolete, as all banks were allowed to issue their own currency, while the regulated institution assumes that there is a central institution that decides the amount of paper money printed .
The institutions responsible for regulating currencies are usually the central banks although they may be external or supranational organizations as in the case of the Eurozone, where this competition exists in the European Central Bank.
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