Fig. 2

Exchange rate and interest rates in Switzerland (1875–1914). Notes: The data refer to the last Saturday of the month and cover the 1875 (January) to 1914 (June) period. In the top panel, the exchange rate between Swiss and French francs refers to the market rate on bills of exchange in Zurich on Paris (average between bid and ask rate). The data have been compiled from Kalkmann (1900, pp.98–137) for the years between 1880 and 1900, and the newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” (NZZ) for other years. In the bottom panel, the (private) interest rates for Paris and Geneva (covering the years from 1893 onwards) refer to the quotations of discount rates in the open money market as reported by Neal and Weidenmier (2003). For Zurich, the interest rate refers to the discount rate of the bank “Credit Suisse” and has been collected from Kalkmann (1900, pp.140–179) for the years between 1880 and 1900, and the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” (NZZ) for other years. The data can be downloaded at https://nherger.com/historical-data/