Gold Standard

A monetary standard for a currency based on precious metal commodities, espoused as sound money in Austrian economics.

Very few mainstream economists believe the gold standard to be a good way to run a currency. Historically there have been many problems over the now-standard fiat money system. Common criticisms of the gold standard include:

  • Unequal distribution of gold across Earth gives certain countries and groups unequal access to value detached from economic activity and based purely on geography.
  • Limits the amount of economic growth because supply is limited.
  • Does not allow market intervention during recessions.
  • Short-term price volatility.
  • Deflationary currencies encourage hording and punish debtors.
  • Gold mining and production is not predictable on long time scales.
  • Shocks in one economic region transfer to other regions. (Great Depression & World War II)

See also sound money and Austrian economics.

References

  1. Green, Russell A. "Gold Standard or Fool’s Gold? Should the US Consider Returning to the Gold Standard?." Issue Brief 02.23. 16 (2016).
  2. Allon, Fiona. 2018. ‘Money after Blockchain: Gold, Decentralised Politics and the New Libertarianism’. Australian Feminist Studies 33 (96): 223–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2018.1517245.
  3. Roche, Cullen O. 2011. ‘Understanding the Modern Monetary System’. http://ssrn.com/paper=1905625.
  4. Bernanke, Ben S. 2004. Essays on the Great Depression. Princeton University Press.
  5. Selmi, Refk, Jamal Bouoiyour, and Mark E. Wohar. 2022. ‘“Digital Gold” and Geopolitics’. Research in International Business and Finance 59: 101512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2021.101512.
  6. Wang, Gangjin, Yanping Tang, Chi Xie, and Shou Chen. 2019. ‘Is Bitcoin a Safe Haven or a Hedging Asset? Evidence from China’. Journal of Management Science and Engineering 4 (3): 173–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmse.2019.09.001.
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