United States: value of currency and notes in circulation 1900-1950

During the early-20^th century, the value of money in circulation in the United States underwent different phases throughout each decade. There was steady growth in most years between 1900 and 1915, before the amount in circulation rose in the late-1910s as the U.S. printed large amounts of money to fuel its economy in the First World War. During the war, however, the U.S. remained on the gold standard while most other major powers abandoned it in order to fund their own war efforts; printing of money in the U.S. was on a much smaller scale than European currencies, which saw the U.S. dollar emerge as one of the most stable and popular reserve currencies in the world.

Great Depression

The value of money in circulation in the U.S. fell after the war, and remained consistent between 4.7 and 4.9 billion U.S. dollars for the rest of the decade. The amount of currency in circulation then dipped during the Great Depression, before fluctuating across the rest of the 1930s as the government implemented various measures to promote spending but restrict inflation - some of these measures were similar to the quantitative easing seen after the Great Recession in 2007, but on a much smaller scale. The Depression also saw the U.S. (mostly) abandon the international gold standard in 1933, which gave it greater freedom to print its own money, although the currency was still backed up by gold to prevent inflation.

WWII

The largest spike in circulation then came during the Second World War, as the government printed money once more to fuel production during the Second World War, roughly tripling the amount in circulation between 1941 and 1945. This saw the value of the dollar fall (in terms of purchasing power), although much of the cash raised for the war effort was through war bonds, which alleviated pressure on the dollar.