Flexible standard

Flexible standard is short for "Flexible gold exchange standard." A monetary system with a monetary unit for which the parity with gold is not fixed by law but is subject to instant change upon the order of some specified governmental agency. Under this standard, the movement of the unit's parity is almost always downward, since the primary purpose for adopting it is to hide or counteract the undesired ultimate effects of prior interventions, particularly those undertaken as the result of labor union pressures.