Financial stability is very important for the growth and expansion of international trade. In order to achieve financial stability, in the late 19th century, the gold standard system was adopted by the economically-developed nations, under the leadership of Great Britain, the hegemonic power at that time. The gold standard was a monetary system where a country’s currency or paper money had a value directly linked to gold. With the gold standard, countries agreed to convert paper money into a fixed amount of gold. A country that used the gold standard set a fixed price for gold and bought and sold gold at that price. That fixed price was used to determine the value of the national currency. The correct answer is C.