International Market and Central Bank Policies on the Eve of the First World War.

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The international gold standard has been hitherto studied as a theme in financial theory or international economics. Our joint research, though not contradictory to the previous studies, arose from theoretical concern with the changing structure of the world economy on the eve of World War <I> . Recently, this period of the classical imperialism has been re-examined from various viewpoints. The principal problems raised there are concerned with the pluralistic structure or 'heterogeneous composition' of the world market into which each country, having its own internal structure and playing a certain international role, was integrated.In this research, highlighting the aspect of international finance, we have approached the structure of the world market. In order to inquire into the whole structure of the world market, we have had a vast range of participants :specialists in core capitalist countries such as Britain, France, Germany and U. S. ; those in peripheral capitalist countries such as Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Japan ;some in India as a peripheral dependent region. We have reached some common understandings over such problems as the focus of analysis and the period we should deal with. The period chosen was the years 1900-1914, i. e., the heyday of the international gold standard. The focus of analysis was placed on policies taken by central banks and other monetary institutions. By confining the scope of analysis this way, we have examined the characteristics of each country's financial structure, which was determined by its international position as well as internal conditions, and the structure of the international financial market under the gold standard.Considering the comprehensiveness of the issue and the required consistency in approaches, we may have to regard this research as a provisional analysis of the whole issue. In future studies, we are to extend and synthesize arguments presented in this research.