Pour comprendre les enjeux li´es `a l’endettement public dans la cr´edibilit´e des accords mon´etairesdans le cas de l’entre-deux-guerres, nous ´etudierons l’influence de l’endettement public sur l’´etalon-or,de sa fondation dans la seconde moiti´e du XIXe si`ecle, `a son abandon au cours de la grande d´epression.La qualit´e des finances publiques, en particulier l’endettement public, fut d´eterminante dans la capacit´ed’une nation `a adh´erer `a cet accord mon´etaire. L’endettement public joua aussi un rˆole d´ecisif dans lafin de ces syst`emes mon´etaires, `a l’issue de la Grande Guerre et lors de la grande d´epression. Dans unsecond temps, notre d´emarche consistera `a comprendre les m´ecanismes qui conduisirent l’endettementpublic `a ˆetre en partie responsable de la fin de l’´etalon de change-or et de l’´emergence de nouveauxblocs mon´etaires dans les ann´ees trente. Face `a la grande d´epression, les modalit´es d’organisation et defonctionnement de cet accord mon´etaire, rendirent impossible son maintien. Si les variables ´economiqueset politiques furent d´eterminantes dans son abandon, celles d’endettement public jou`erent aussi. Apr`esavoir d´ecrit les modalit´es de sortie de l’´etalon de change-or, nous montrerons les m´ecanismes th´eoriquesqui lient les crises mon´etaires et les crises d’endettement et les appliquerons `a la grande d´epression. Nous´etudierons en particulier le cas de la France. Nous montrerons `a l’aide d’un mod`ele de dur´ee, l’influencede la dette publique dans le maintien des parit´es-or pendant la crise. Enfin, nous verrons comment denouveaux blocs mon´etaires se form`erent. / To understand the challenges linked to public debt in credibility of monetary agreementsbetween the World Wars, we shall study influence of public debt on the gold standard, from its founda-tion in the second half of the XIXth century to end during the Great Depression. The quality of publicfinances, in particular the public debt, was determining in the capacity of a nation to subscribe to thismonetary agreement. The public debt also had a decisive role in the end of these monetary systems, atthe end of World War I and during the Great Depression. In a second part, our approach will consistin understanding mechanisms which led public debt to be partly accountable for the end of the gold-exchange standard and the rise of new monetary blocks in the thirties. Facing the Great Depression, themodalities of organization and functioning of this monetary agreement, made impossible to sustain it. Ifeconomic and political variables were determining in its end, variables linked to public debt played too.Having described modalities of release of gold-exchange standard, we shall show the theoretical mecha-nisms which link monetary crisis and debts crisis and we will applied them to the Great Depression. Wewill study in particular the case of France. We shall show using a duration model, influence of publicdebt in preservation of gold parity during the crisis. Finally, we shall see how new monetary blocks formed.

This thesis studies the history of the Scandinavian Currency Union, 1873-1924. It is divided into four analytical chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of the Union and each written as a separate paper. The conclusions of the thesis challenge existing views of the Union and examines new aspects of this episode in monetary history. It poses new questions and exploits and evaluates new sources. The first paper offers an original interpretation of the role of Scandinavianism in the monetary reform of 1873-1875. It is argued that its importance has been both exaggerated and misinterpreted. In fact, the monetary integration of those years was principally motivated by economic considerations. The second paper deals with inter Scandinavian monetary cooperation during the period 1873-1914. It argues that the process of monetary integration, later followed by disintegration, during these decades is best understood in the context of a trade off between financial efficiency and national economic vulnerability.  It provides a comprehensive analysis of the motives that underlay the principal extensions of the Union’s institutional framework.This includes, the formation, cancellation and renegotiation of the formal, Union based, clearing agreement, as well as the process leading to the free circulation of all Scandinavian notes throughout the currency area.The third paper studies the level of integration and efficiency of the Scandinavian foreign exchange market throughout the period. The paper applies theories and methods from modern economics and finance on a new set of historical financial data. It concludes that the currency union generally, and the clearing agreement in particular, significantly increased the degree of market integration. It also concludes that, during most of the period, the Scandinavian foreign exchange market was characterized by perfect arbitrage and efficiency. The final paper challenges the prevailing scholarly view of the dissolution of the Union. It argues that the break up resulted from the asymmetric shocks that the three countries experienced during World War I. These shocks, which differed as a result of varying national economic policies and structures, created tensions that required exchange rate adjustments to be resolved. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004</p>