samlet årgang - Økonomisk Institut - Københavns Universitet

154
25
20
15
10
5
Official discount rate
Private banks’ average deposit rate
Market rate of discount/Money market rate
NATIONALØKONOMISK TIDSSKRIFT 2005. NR. 2
0
1875 1885 1895 1905 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005
Figure 1. Short-term interest rates 1875-2003, per cent per annum.
Source: Chart 1a in Abildgren (2005).
4 summarises some of the main findings. Finally, annex A describes some issues related
to comparability of interest rates across time and outlines the main characteristics of the
data set on interest rates constructed for the analysis in the article. The interest rates are
listed in annex B.
2. Development of nominal interest rates and inflation since 1875 – An overview
Figures 1 and 2 show the development in a range of short-term and long-term nominal
interest rates in Denmark since the introduction of the krone as the Danish currency
unit in 1875 when Denmark also changed her monetary standard from silver to gold. In
the period 1875-1945 the average short-term and long-term nominal interest-rate level
was around 4 to 5 per cent per annum. An upward trend in nominal interest rates during
the 1960s and 1970s was followed by a downward trend during the 1980s and 1990s.
Table 1 presents a range of summary descriptive statistics on nominal interest rates
and inflation broken down by sub-periods determined by in the Danish exchange-rate
policy and the degree of restrictions on cross-border capital mobility. 2
During the Classical Gold Standard period 1875-1913 Denmark participated in the
Scandinavian Currency Union based on gold together with Sweden and (from 1877)
Norway. During this period all of Denmark’s other main trading partners participated
2. The subdivision by degree of cross-border capital mobility is very rough (»free« or »restrictions«). However,
in Denmark – like many other countries – the reintroduction of free cross-border capital movement in
the post-World War II period has been a gradual process. For a short and fact-oriented chronology of the
Danish exchange-rate policy and the development in restrictions on cross-border capital movements since
1875, see Abildgren (2004a).