DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2020.2.33484

Abstract: The article studies the monetary policy of the Russian state in the second half of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries, in particular, the dynamics of exchange rates. The exchange rate is actually the currency rate and demonstrates the purchasing power of a country’s money in relation to that in another country. On the basis of primary data of the Russian press, the author has collected data on quotes for the subsequent statistical analysis and used correlation matrices and regression models to identify factors that influenced the analysis as well as internal dependencies. The main research method is the statistical one accompanied by the inductive approach. The issue of the Russian exchange rate dynamics in the early 19th century has not been properly studies in historiography. The article demonstrates that exchange rates do not depend much on the volume of international trade or, more precisely, on the balance of foreign trade. Exchange rates have weak correlation with the foreign trade balance and statistically insignificant one with the balance of trade with particular countries. The explanatory power of regression models with economical characteristics being independent factors has R² not more than 20-25 %. It must be noted that no reliable dependence of exchange rates on wheat export from Russia has been found while their dependence on gold import was statistically significant as far as Amsterdam and Hamburg are concerned (at the same time the correlation of gold import with wheat export is significant and positive).

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2019.6.30432

Abstract: The article addresses the subject of the monetary-credit policy of the Russian state in the second half of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries. The research object of this study is the state's promissory note rate of exchange. A promissory note rate is essentially an exchange rate and it reflects the purchasing power of the currency in one country in relation to the monetary currency in another. On the basis of primary data deriving from the Russian press, the author collected the data of promissory note quotes suitable for the subsequent statistical analysis, and identified the periods of the exchange rate's instability, the nature of its dynamics and the factors that influenced it. As the main research method of this work, the author applied the historical-genetic and statistical research methods and the inductive approach to the examination. The topic of the Russian note exchange rate dynamics in the first third of the 19th century has been little studied in historiography. The article demonstrates that the volatility of note rates, on the one hand, was lower than could be expected at this turbulent time, and on the other hand, the coefficient of variation was low. But at the same time, the note rate noticeably deviates from parity, which, given its nature of being based on the domestic rate of the metallic equivalency value of money, indicates a significant speculative component in its dynamics.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2019.2.28217

Abstract: The subject of this study is the monetary-loan policy of the Russian government in the second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. The object of this research is the assignation ruble. The author examines in detail the question of the termination of the free exchange of the assignation ruble for silver and copper coins. Particular attention is focused on the sources from the archive "Special Office of the Credit Branch of the Ministry of Finance". By all appearances, the article's author was the first to study some of the archive documents. In these sources, interesting data was uncovered concerning the correspondence of the Assignation Bank and promissory offices with the Ministry of Finance, which made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the date of the cessation of the assignation exchange. The study's main research method is the historical-genetic method of research and the inductive approach to problem examination. The identified data suggests the existence of the assignation exchange for coins at least before the start of the Napoleonic wars, and in the course of further research, the author hopes to clarify the date of the cessation of this exchange.