Political sketch
An unincorporated territory of the United States.
The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan , sailing under Spanish patronage, probably visited Guam in 1521. Spain claimed Guam in 1565, and beginning in 1668 established firm control of the island. U.S. military forces conquered Guam on 20 June 1898, during the Spanish-American War, and in 1899 the United States bought Guam from Spain for US$20 million.. Guam was administered by the U.S. Navy. After the First World War, when Japan was awarded most former German colonies in the Pacific, Guam became a lone U.S. outpost surrounded by Japanese territory. Japanese forces occupied the island on 8-10 December 1941, at the beginning of the Second World War in the Pacific. U.S. forces landed in Guam on 21 July 1944 and secured the island by 12 August 1944. Guam became a major air and naval base.
On 1 August 1950, the U.S. Department of the Interior took over the administration of Guam, a first step toward self-government. The island first elected a governor in 1970. In 1972, a new law gave Guam one delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The delegate can vote in committees but not in the full sessions of the House of Representatives. Guam remains an important U.S. military base, and the economy of the island is heavily dependent on government employment.
Wars since 1500
Spanish-American War (United States against Spain), 1898; Second World War in the Pacific, 1941-1945 (Japan against United Kingdom, United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, and allies).
Convertibility
[Material on the US dollar will be inserted here when the country table for the United States is ready.]
Guam alone:
During the Second World War, Japan incorporated Guam into the Japanese monetary system, rather than issuing an occupation currency. Doing so was a signal that Japan wished Guam to be a permanent part of the Japanese empire.
Other
Defaults on or restructurings of debt to the private sector (mainly from Purcell and Kaufman 1993 and Standard & Poor's 2004): None.
Banking crises (data since 1970s mainly from Caprio and Klingebiel 1999 and Frydl 1999): None.
Frankel and Rose (1996) list of currency crashes: Country not listed.
No exchange rate data in Reinhart and Rogoff (2003).
References
Primary sources:
--Laws and decrees:
United States. Gazette. 1936-present. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. Federal Register. Washington: Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, distributor. More recent issues are also at <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html>.
--Publications of monetary authorities:
Bank of Japan (Nihon Gink.). Annual report. 1931-1940, 1949-present. Annual Report for the Year (Abridged) Presented to the General Meeting of Shareholders (1931-1940); Annual Report Submitted to the Diet ... [by the] Policy Board, the Bank of Japan (1949-1989); Annual Review (1990-present). Tokyo: Bank of Japan. (The Japanese version, Seisaku Iinkai, goes back to 1872 without gaps).
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (United States). Annual report. 1915-present. Annual Report for the Federal Reserve System Covering Operations for the Year... (1915-1965); Annual Report (1966-present). Washington: Government Printing Office.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (United States). Bulletin. 1915-present. Federal Reserve Bulletin. Washington: Government Printing Office.
--Web site of the current monetary authority (viewed January 2005):
<http://www.federalreserve.gov>
--Other publications or Web sites:
Guam. Economic Research Center. 1993-present. Guam Annual Economic Review. [Agana]: Economic Research Center, Department of Commerce, Government of Guam.
Guam. Governor. Annual report. 1935-present? Annual Report of the Governor of Guam (1935-41); Annual Report of the Governor of Guam to the Secretary of the Interior (1951-1952); Annual Report, Governor of Guam to the Secretary of the Interior (1953-1966); Annual Report, Guam to the Secretary of the Interior (1967-1969); Guam Annual Report to the Secretary of Interior (1970-present?). Guam: Office of the Governor? (1933-1941, 1971-present?); Washington: Government Printing Office (1951-1970).
United States. Office of Naval Operations. 1951. U.S. Navy Report on Guam, 1899-1950. Washington: Government Printing Office.
Main secondary sources:
Beers, Harry P[utney]. 1944. American Naval Occupation and Government of Guam, 1898-1902.[Washington, Office of Records Administration, Administrative Office, Navy Department].
IMF ARER. 1950-present. International Monetary Fund. Annual Report on Exchange Restrictions (1950-1978), Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (1979-1988), Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions: Annual Report (1989-present). Washington: International Monetary Fund. (Contains information on IMF member countries and some of their dependencies.) (No direct information on Guam, but some information can be inferred from data on the United States.)
Monetary authorities: Guam
| Dates | Type | Name | Source | Remarks |
| 1899
-December 1941 |
dollarization | US dollar (issued by government issuer US Treasury and free banks / by US Federal Reserve System [headquarters Washington, DC, United States] from 16 November 1914) | starting date inferred from general histories; no specific information on monetary history | The United States established the US dollar as currency after capturing Guam during the Spanish-American War of 1898, so I date this period as beginning then even though there were as yet no banks on the island. The first bank was apparently the Guam Savings and Loan (headquarters, Hagatna [Agana], Guam), in Hagatna (Agana), in 1954 (according to the Web site of its successor, BankPacific). The second bank was perhaps the Bank of Hawaii (headquarters Honolulu, Hawaii), in Hagatna? (Agana), in 1961. Guam has never issued its own coins. |
| December 1941
August 1944 |
dollarization | Japanese yen (issued by central bank Bank of Japan [headquarters Tokyo, Japan]) | E-mail from Professor Dirk Ballendorf, University of Guam, 21 March 2005 | Japanese forces conquered Guam at the start the of the Second World War in the Pacific. Japan incorporated Guam into the Japanese monetary system, rather than issuing an occupation currency. Doing so was a signal that Japan wished Guam to be a permanent part of the Japanese empire. |
| August 1944
-present (2005) |
dollarization (another type) | US dollar (issued by central bank US Federal Reserve System, headquarters Washington, DC, United States) | starting date inferred from general histories; no specific information on monetary history | U.S. forces retook Guam in the later part of the Second World War. |
Exchange rate arrangements: Guam
| Dates | Official arrangement | Source | Unofficial arrangement, if different | Remarks |
| 1668
-1899 |
fixed; used Spanish or Philippine currency | starting date inferred from general histories; no specific information on monetary history; see Remarks | Because of a scarcity of sources, I am uncertain whether Guam was subject to the same coinage regulations as the Philippines (which are detailed in its country table, elsewhere), or whether other regulations applied. | |
| 1899
-December 1941 |
fixed; used US dollar | starting date inferred from general histories; no specific information on monetary history | The United States established the US dollar as currency after capturing Guam during the Spanish-American War of 1898. | |
| December 1941
-August 1944 |
fixed; used Japanese yen | E-mail from Professor Dirk Ballendorf, University of Guam, 21 March 2005 | Japanese forces conquered Guam at the start the of the Second World War in the Pacific. Japan incorporated Guam into the Japanese monetary system, rather than issuing an occupation currency. Doing so was a signal that Japan wished Guam to be a permanent part of the Japanese empire. | |
| August 1944
-present (2005) |
fixed; uses US dollar | starting date inferred from general histories; no specific information on monetary history | U.S. forces retook Guam in the later part of the Second World War. |