A century of monetary reform in South-East Europe : From political autonomy to the gold standard, 1815-1910

We document and analyse monetary reform in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Romania from 1815 (Serbian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire) to 1910, when Greece became the last country in the region to join the gold standard. We explain five key steps of monetary reform which the four countries passed in the same chronological order, and ask why national coinage and the foundation of a bank of note issue came late in the reform process. The South-East European countries tried to emulate West European prototypes, yet economic backwardness meant such institutions were often different from the onset, remained short-lived or both.