Why is gold valuable? Nature, social power and the value of things

Cultural Geographies

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 3-24

  Schoenberger, Erica ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Gold; Money; Social power; Value

Indexed keywords

GOLD; RESOURCE SCARCITY;

EID: 78651261601     PISSN: 14744740     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1474474010377549     Document Type: Article

References (123)

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82. V. Zelizer, The Social Meaning of Money (New York: Basic Books, 1994).
83. P. Spufford, Money and its Uses, p. 15.
84. P. Vilar, A History of Gold and Money, 1450-1920, trans. by J. White (London: Verso, 1991).
85. P. Spufford, Money and its Uses, p. 248.
86. P. Spufford, Money and its Uses, p. 61.
87. P. Spufford, Money and its Uses, see especially pp. 255-75.
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89. P. Spufford, Money and its Uses, especially pp. 275-86.
90. According to an account compiled in 1577, the cost to the Crown of transferring funds abroad, including the vagaries of exchange rates, insurance, and transport, could run to anywhere from 20 to 40 percent on top of the sum in question depending on the destination. Compared to even fairly stiff interest rates on loans, one can see the advantage of dealing with merchants and bankers in order to produce money in the right place at the right time.
91. A. Lovett, 'The General Settlement of 1577: An Aspect of Spanish Finance in the Early Modern Period', The Historical Journal, 25(1), 1982, pp. 1-22, p. 15.
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103. T. Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class.
104. A beautiful example, albeit from Japan, is the following from 1688: 'The costumes of puppets must not be expensive. Gold and silver leaf should not be used on anything. Only puppet generals may wear gold or silver hats.' Quoted in D.H. Shively, 'Sumptuary Regulation and Status in Early Tokugawa Japan', Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 25, 1964, pp. 123-164, p. 139.
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114. T. Green, Central Bank Gold Reserves, Table 3, p. 20.Green notes that because gold coins exported from one country to another were often melted down and reminted in local currency, there is a certain amount of double counting involved in these statistics, but in what magnitudes, no one can say.
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116. T. Green, Central Bank Gold Reserves, pp. 11-12 and Table 3, p. 20.
117. World Gold Council, Gold Market Knowledge: Supply and Demand; Stocks and Flows (London: World Gold Council, 2008), p. 1.
118. T. Green, Central Bank Gold Reserves, Table 2, pp. 18-19.
119. World Gold Council, 'Gold sales under the Central Bank Gold Agreements', http://www.gold.org/deliver.php?file=/value/stats/statistics/xls/CBGA_sales_current.xls (8 July 2008). The original signatories of the 1999 agreement included the 11 Eurozone countries, the European Central Bank, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, whose holdings collectively accounted for about 45 percent of global reserves. In addition, the governments of the US, Australia and Japan along with the IMF and the BIS informally associated themselves with the agreement bringing the total of global reserves represented up to 85 percent. The decision to gradually dispose of some reserves was accompanied by public commitments to the idea of continuing to hold gold as an 'important element of monetary reserves.
120. 'European Central Banks declare their confidence in gold,' Press release, Joint Statement on Gold, 26th September, 1999, http://www.reserveasset.gold.org/central_bank_agreements/ (8 July 2008).
121. World Gold Council, Gold Market Knowledge, p. 1.
122. N. Castree, 'Commodifying What Nature?'.
123. E. Hartwick, 'Towards a Geographical Politics of Consumption'.