All Posts Tagged With: "gold"
A Return to Gold?
“Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. . . . Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society. . . .The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the [...]
30Nov2011 | and John L. Chapman | 13 comments | ContinuedLudwig von Mises: Economist, Philosopher, Prophet
Editor’s Note: September 29 is the 130th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig von Mises, the great Austrian economist, defender of classical liberalism, and adviser to FEE. Below is a selection of Mises’s writings published in The Freeman over the years. The Market It is customary to speak metaphorically of the automatic and anonymous forces [...]
24Aug2011 | Ludwig von Mises | 0 comments | ContinuedCentral Banking Beats Free Banking?
In “More Bits on Whether We Need a Fed,” a November 21 Marginal Revolution blog post, George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen questions “why free banking would offer an advantage over post-WWII central banking (combined with FDIC and paper money).” He adds, “That’s long been the weak spot of the anti-Fed case.” Free banking [...]
23Mar2011 | Fred E. Foldvary | 3 comments | ContinuedGold and Money, II
Last month we examined some propositions about gold as money, drawing from theory and history. This month we ask whether and how gold might once again serve a monetary function. Money of any sort, commodity-based or not, derives its value in large part from what economists call a “network effect.” Like a fax machine, whose [...]
23Mar2011 | Warren C. Gibson | 10 comments | ContinuedGold and Money
Nothing seems to arouse passions—pro and con—quite like suggestions that gold should once again play a role in our money. “Only gold is money,” says one side. “It’s a barbarous relic,” says the other. Let’s turn down the heat a bit and look into some propositions about gold. That should lead us to some reasonable [...]
24Feb2011 | Warren C. Gibson | 23 comments | ContinuedIs There a Gold Bubble?
With all of the screaming and commotion I just had to look… In the summer of 2008 I was attending FEE’s summer seminar, and on my way back to my hotel room, I heard such an uproar I had to investigate. It was coming from the large ballroom and it was far too early for [...]
25Nov2009 | Paul Cwik | 12 comments | ContinuedThe Great Duration, 1929–41
Economists, following the usage of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in their classic Monetary History of the United States, call the economic collapse between 1929 and 1933 the Great Contraction. In my own writings, I have added two similar terms to refer to other aspects of the Great Depression—the Great Duration and the Great Escape. [...]
1Jul2007 | Robert Higgs | 0 comments | ContinuedMiners, Vigilantes, and Cattlemen: Property Rights on the Western Frontier
As Americans moved west over the course of the nineteenth century, the property-rights institutions they brought with them from the east evolved to meet the demands of the new conditions. The western frontier experience both changed and strengthened those institutions. The story of property rights on the frontier is captured by the experiences of three [...]
1Apr2007 | Andrew P. Morriss | 5 comments | ContinuedThe Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession by Peter Bernstein
Wiley & Sons · 2000 · 432 pages · $27.95 Reviewed by Lawrence Parks When it comes to disparaging gold, Peter Bernstein can’t be outdone. Among other traducements, he blames gold for: the institution of slavery; having “torn economies to shreds”; the Great Depression of the 1930s; and many other “horrors.” In Bernstein’s view, people [...]
1Nov2001 | Lawrence M. Parks | 0 comments | ContinuedAustrian Inflation, Austrian Money, and Federal Reserve Policy
Richard Timberlake is a retired professor of economics and author of Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History (University of Chicago Press). Joseph Salerno’s essay in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, October 1999, extensively criticized the series of three articles I had published in previous issues of the magazine.[1] I find [...]
1Sep2000 | Richard H. Timberlake | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Reserve Requirement Debacle of 1935-1938
Richard Timberlake is a professor of economics retired from the University of Georgia. This is the last in a series. The principal thrust of Treasury-Federal Reserve monetary policy throughout the 1920s and 1930s was by turns restrictive, contractionary, and depressive. Even as the economy was floundering helplessly in a financial environment of monetary austerity, no [...]
1Jun1999 | Richard H. Timberlake | 0 comments | ContinuedMoney: The Great Gold Robbery
The New Deal established much of the moral framework of contemporary political life. Though some of the programs and policies of that era have been terminated, the moral heritage of the New Deal continues to permeate American government and political thinking. In 1936 Franklin Roosevelt declared, “I should like to have it said of my [...]
1Jun1999 | James Bovard | 1 comment | ContinuedGold Policy in the 1930s
Richard Timberlake is a professor of economics retired from the University of Georgia and author of Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History (University of Chicago Press, 1993). This is the second in a series. Between 1929 and 1933, the Federal Reserve System, which is the central bank of the United [...]
1May1999 | Richard H. Timberlake | 1 comment | ContinuedA Golden Comeback, Part III
“A free gold market . . . reflects and measures the extent of the lack of confidence in the domestic currency.” —Ludwig von Mises In the past two columns, I’ve highlighted the uses and misuses of gold. Despite occasional calls for a return to a gold standard, the Midas metal has largely lost out to [...]
1Nov1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedA Golden Comeback, Part II
“Gold maintains its purchasing power over long periods of time, for example, half-century intervals.” —Roy Jastram, The Golden Constant[1] In last month’s column, I focused on gold’s inherent stability as a monetary numeraire. Historically, the monetary base under gold has neither declined nor increased too rapidly. In short, it has operated very closely to a [...]
1Oct1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedA Golden Comeback, Part I
“A more timeless measure is needed; gold fits the bill perfectly.” —Mark Mobius When speaking of the Midas metal, I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s refrain, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” After years of central-bank selling and a bear market in precious metals, the Financial Times recently declared the “Death of Gold.” But [...]
1Sep1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Wild West Meets Cyberspace
In 1848 Americans received the startling news that the vast territory they had just acquired from Mexico included tremendous riches. California, previously a distant, sleepy Mexican province whose economy was based on trading cattle hides and tallow for manufactured goods, was actually brimming with gold. There it was, just lying on the ground. Tens of [...]
1Jul1998 | Andrew P. Morriss | 2 comments | Continued-
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