Report
The first debt ceiling crisis
Abstract: In the second half of 1953 the United States, for the first time, risked exceeding the statutory limit on Treasury debt. This paper describes how Congress, the White House, and Treasury officials dealt with the looming crisis?by deferring and reducing expenditures, monetizing ?free? gold that remained from the devaluation of the dollar in 1934, and, ultimately, raising the debt ceiling.
Keywords: U.S. Treasury; monetization of gold; debt ceiling;
JEL Classification: N22; E42; H63;
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Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Part of Series: Staff Reports
Publication Date: 2016-06-01
Number: 783
Pages: 13 pages