Gold standard
A monetary arrangement tying currency value to gold, historically anchoring exchange rates and limiting discretionary money creation.
Under classic forms, central banks redeemed notes for bullion at a fixed price. That constraint could discipline inflation but also forced painful austerity or devaluation when gold drained abroad or when wars and panics demanded liquidity.
Bretton Woods legacy
The postwar Bretton Woods system was a gold-exchange variant before full fiat currencies; understanding gold helps explain why exchange-rate regimes still provoke controversy.