Gold Standard

In his recent three-part interview (

Jeff Deist and Claudio Grass discuss the uniquely Swiss mindset behind the upcoming Swiss gold referendum.

Forbes’s “stable and flexible” gold standard would facilitate and camouflage an inflationary expansion of the money supply that would, according to Austrians, distort capital markets and lead to asset bubbles. The motto of our current gold-price fixers seems to be: “We want sound money — and plenty of it.”

The inability of governments to maintain fixed exchange rates in the face of opposing market forces is only further proof of their impotency.

Banking in its current form is not capitalism.

George Selgin and Lawrence White have sought to tie their modern free banking school to the views of Ludwig von Mises. Whatever the validity of their own views on the gold standard

Throughout much of modern history, gold served as the commodity that most widely facilitated free exchange. While its virtues as a medium-of-exchange were clear to people of previous eras, gold has fallen out of favor,

It seems odd that economists would find the idea of falling prices to be a bad thing. Likewise, it is peculiar that policymakers would fear deflation and be willing to take drastic measures to insure

This three-volume collection, edited by William Rees-Mogg and published in 2002 by Pickering and Chatto presents, in more than 949 pages, essays and excerpts from books written by 19 of the most remarkable 

Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2002)

Hans F.