Like fi scal austerity, monetary austerity fundamentally worked to shape the behavior of economic agents in a way that was favorable to capital accumulation. If depreciation “leads to a spirit of reckless extravagance and a determination to spend at once what in any case is likely to be lost” (R. H. Brand, Verbatim Record, Brussels 1920, vol. 2, 18), then revaluation incentivized savings— the most virtuous economic behavior— on the part of those who have the means to save. Th e former governor of the Bank of England, Brien Cokayne, under his new title as fi rst Baron Cullen of Ashbourne, sat as a member of the Commission on Currency and Exchange. He was adamant that “the last rise in money rates in Great Britain appears to have acted, as it naturally should, as a considerable stimulus to thrift . Bankers now receive numerous enquiries as to the terms on which they will accept deposits now that rates are so high” (Verbatim Record, Brussels 1920, vol. 2, 71).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 759