14  Øksendal, Lars Fredrik (2008), “Monetary policy under the gold standard – examining the case of Norway, 1893-1914”, Working Paper 2008/14, Norges Bank. 15  See Bjerkholt, Olav and Jan F. Qvigstad (2007): “Introduction to Ragnar Frisch’s 1933 pamphlet Saving and Circulation Regulation”, in Revisita di Storia Economica, Banca d’Italia. 16  See Eitrheim Øyvind., Jan T. Klovland and Jan F. Qvigstad (Eds.) (2004), page 293: “Historical Monetary Statistics for Norway 1819-2003”, Occasional Papers No. 35, Norges Bank, Oslo. 17  However, they were more flexible in September 1931. It only took seven days for Norway to follow the UK’s lead in abandoning the gold standard. 18  There was a consensus on parity policy in the 1920s. See for example Hodne, Fritz and Ola Honningdal Grytten (2002), pages 111-112: Norsk økonomi i det 19. århundre (The Norwegian economy in the 19th century), Fagbokforlaget and Skånland, Hermod (1967) “Det norske kredittmarked siden 1900 (The Norwegian credit market since 1900) Samfunnsøkonomiske studier No. 19, Statistics Norway, Oslo. See also Mykland, Knut (ed.) Cappelens Norgeshistorie, Vol. 13 page 86. 19  For further discussion of parity policy and Norges Bank’s role, see Ecklund, Gunhild J. (2008), pages 46-51 and 67-71: “Creating a new role for an old Central Bank: The Bank of Norway 1945-1954”, Series of Dissertations 2/2008, BI Norwegian School of Management, Oslo. 20  This link to gold was not as strong as when the obligation to redeem in gold applied.
This was probably also part of the reason for the acceptance of diverging from promises made, and may explain why transparency was of so little interest to the authorities. 6  BIS Review 136/2008  de facto devaluations of the krone in the period 1976-1986 25 , which led to high inflation. Data on price developments in Norway are available back to 1516. Five hundred years of price history show that in historical terms the inflation period in the 1970s and 1980s is unique. 26 Previously, periods of high inflation had been associated with government deficits as a result of war and unstable governments. This time, inflation was related to the system of economic policy management. The era of high inflation must be viewed against the background of the mixed experience of the parity system and reduced weight on keeping promises, ambitious economic stabilisation policies and belief in the validity of the Phillips curve. In addition, perhaps the importance of a stable value of money had lost some of its prominence. As there are many lawyers present here today, I will venture to comment on a case in your field of expertise: the so-called gold clause case (“Gullklausulsaken”). 27 The Norwegian government had issued a number of bonds in the period 1896 to 1909. 28 Many of the bonds were held by French moneylenders. The bonds were issued in the gold standard period and the moneylenders were promised repayment in “monnaie d’or”.