Changes

Although some participating nations did run trade deficits, the lack of gold, therefore money, would keep the deficit nations from descending into economic chaos, or even depression for that matter. For countries that ran deficits, gold would leave the country and the money supply would therefore contract, resulting in lower domestic prices on commodities relative to world prices. The lower prices would then lead to an increase in exports and a decrease in imports, which would eventually alleviate the deficit. Conversely, the process happened in reverse for nations that ran persistent trade surpluses. <ref> Frieden, p. 143</ref> For the participating nations, inflation was almost unheard of, unemployment was extremely low, and tariffs and other protective barriers were not needed.

====The United States and the Classical Gold Standard====