Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2010
Monetary policy has been one of the least understood and much debated topics in Chilean economic history. An ideological commitment to convertibility has alienated economic historian from die larger subject of costs and benefits of the exchange regime. This paper studies the process of money creation in Chile and its relationship with banking regulation. Given the characteristics of the Chilean economy, the author concludes that adherence to the gold standard was not possible and that Chilean naive experiments with the real bills doctrine provided the economy with financial stability.