Dear Chai-on,
In English there's no rigorous distinction between "devaluation" and
"depreciation", but I think people would tend to use "devaluation" to refer
to a fall in the _external_ value of a national currency in relation to
other national currencies or gold, and "depreciation" to refer to a fall in
the _internal_ value of a currency in terms of its purchasing power over
domestically produced goods. But usage isn't consistent since people speak
of an "appreciation" of the dollar against the yen.
In English we seem stuck with the awkward and incorrect "revaluation" to
refer to a rise in the value of a national currency in opposition to
"devaluation". The problem is that "revaluation" really means any change in
the value of the currency, not necessarily in the upward direction.
Duncan
>Dear Comrades,
>
>May anyone distinguish between the devaluation and the depreciation of money?
>
>I am perplexed with the two words. What word would correspond to the
>devaluation in the same way as "appreciation" does to "depreciation"? The
>opposite word of the "devaluation"?
>
>With regards,
>
>Chai-on
Duncan K. Foley
Department of Economics
Barnard College
New York, NY 10027
(212)-854-3790
fax: (212)-854-8947
e-mail: dkf2@columbia.edu