Western Europe diverged from the floating-rate norm via the Bundesbank and EMS

Evidence

Floating exchange rates largely became the global norm in the following decades, with the remarkable exception of Western Europe. Here, a diverging neoliberal conception became influential through the increasing power of the West German Bundesbank and the creation of the European Monetary System—an experiment which continues to divide neoliberal opinion internally. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 448

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the reader’s map of internal varieties: here is a concrete fault line (floating vs European fixed/coordinated) dividing neoliberal opinion, not a uniform doctrine. — connects to: The ECB lacks the lender-of-last-resort powers the Fed and Bank of England exercise — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 246; Floating exchange rates triumphed despite starting as a minority view even among neoliberals — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 445; Floating exchange rates preconditioned the rapid liberalization of global capital — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 448 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The Bundesbank was the first central bank worldwide to adopt monetarist money supply targeting #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 630
• A single currency without fiscal federalism increases divergence between member states #complicates (0.75) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 347