The Problem of the Rupee

Submitted as a doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics under Edwin Cannan and published in 1923 by P. S. King & Son, *The Problem of the Rupee* is one of Ambedkar's earliest and most rigorous works in monetary economics. In seven chapters Ambedkar reconstructs Indian currency history from the East India Company through the closure of the mints in 1893 and the Smith Committee fiasco of 1920, then mounts a blistering critique of the gold-exchange standard advocated by Keynes and the Government of India. He argues that any standard that fails to stabilise the general purchasing power of the rupee is no standard at all, and proposes that the mints be permanently closed to further rupee issue and that gold coins circulate alongside a fixed rupee currency. The work earned Ambedkar his D.Sc. in Economics and shaped the design of the Reserve Bank of India established in 1934.