In this commentary, I will analyze the concept of sound money and its relevance today. The concept evolved in the 19th century as many countries adopted the gold standard. It became associated with commodity money or “hard currency.” For example, Mises (1966: 782) stated: The principle of…
Of course I didn't expect my recent post, listing "Ten Things Every Economist Should Know about the Gold Standard," to stop economists from repeating the same old misinformation. So I'm not surprised to find two of them, writing for a New York Fed blog, repeating recently some …
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (well, OK–at the risk of continuing to sound like a broken record), I'd like to say a bit more about economists' tendency to get their monetary history wrong. In particular, I'd like to take aim at common myths…
I'm very well acquainted… with matters mathematical, I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical, About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. I'm very good at integral and differential calculus; I know the scientific…
A monetary standard is a set of institutions and rules governing the supply of money in an economy. These rules and institutions collectively constrain the production of money. Through its constraints on money creation, the standard indirectly acts on prices. A monetary standard may also affect the…