This paper develops a approach to the theory of currency devaluation.1 The approach is monetary in several respects. The role of the real balance effect is emphasized and a distinction is drawn between the relative prices of goods, the exchange rate and the price of money in terms of goods. Furthermore, money is treated as a capital asset so that the expenditure effects induced by a change are spread out over time and depend on the preferred rate of adjustment of real balances.2 The latter aspect gives rise to the analytical distinction between impact and long-run effects of a devaluation. The first part of this paper develops a one-commodity and two-country model of devaluation. The simplicity of that structure is chosen quite deliberately to emphasize the aspect of the problem as opposed to the derivative effects that arise from induced changes in relative commodity prices. Trade is viewed as the exchange of goods for money or a means of redistributing the world supply of assets. A devaluation is shown to give rise to a change in the level of trade and the terms of trade, the price of money in terms of goods. In the second part the implications of the existence of nontraded goods are investigated, and induced changes in the relative prices of home goods enter the analysis.

This paper investigates the effects of devaluation in a two-commodity, two- country, and two-money model with full employment and price flexibility. Primary emphasis is placed on the effect of a change in the real value of money on real expenditure and on the effects on relative prices of a redistribution of expenditure between countries. The stability properties of the model are related to the transfer problem in barter theory and to the Marshall-Lerner condition. Given stability, it is shown that a devaluation will improve the balance of payments.