The Scandinavian Currency Union

1872-1924

Andrew C. Hedberg

What Will Be Covered

• Why was it formed

• Who was in the SCU

• What were the ramifications of the SCU

• What did the currency consist of

• Effects of the SCU

• Why did the SCU fail

Why Was The SCU Formed?

- France, Italy, and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union in 1865.

- Germany and Austria joined together in a German Monetary Union.

- Denmark and Sweden considered joining the LMU but the French-German war changed this.

Who Was Involved?

-First meeting December of 1872

-Sweden and Denmark signed agreement-May of 1873

-Norway later signs in October of 1875

What Was Agreed To?

-Decimal System

-Backed by gold

-Common Currency

-Swedish and Norwegian Krona

-Danish Krone

-1 Krona = Riksdaler (old Swedish currency)

-Adjustment period was 8 years

What Did The Currency Consist Of ?

- Gold Coins

- Also allowed to mint coins in silver and bronze called token coins.

- The SCU originally did not list any agreement of paper money.

- Paper notes were agreed to in 1901

Denmark’s Token Coins

What did they look like?

What did they look like?

Norway’s Token Coins

What did they look like?

Sweden’s Token Coins

Exchange Rates

-Although Scandinavia had a common currency, it’s exchange rate varied from country to country.

                                                            

                                                            

Effects of SCU

-The three countries were only bound by monetary aspects

-Inter-Scandinavian trade fell-As compared with German and English

trade-Increased labor?

-Sweden yes-Norway and Denmark no

Why Did It Fail?

-World War I

- Gold Embargo

-Token coins were no longer convertible in the three countries

-Economic Differences

-Trade

-Population growth

-Pressure from Sweden to end the SCU

Questions?