>Was Nixon's complete split from the gold standard a factor at all? Caveat: I have a degree in Economics and learned about this stuff, but I am not a historian

>Was Nixon's complete split from the gold standard a factor at all? Caveat: I have a degree in Economics and learned about this stuff, but I am not a historian and could probably do well to be corrected at some points below. Pre-1971, the only way to create more currency was for the president to issue a new gold peg, which caused chaos when people would be trying to exchange USD for gold before the new peg came on. FDR literally made holding gold illegal because of the issues this caused. What you see pre-1971 to post 1971 is a large increase in the money supply, allowing more investment and higher inflation, along with easier exchange with foreign currency (easier for them to invest here, too). Other factors are the advent of technology making human labor less necessary and a transition to a knowledge economy (fewer employees earning more money). On the other end, due to the end of gold convertibility, foreign steel and the oil shocks were also caused by a move toward free trade (the embargo had as much to do with Israel as it did with a change in oil pricing from USD to gold coupled with a surge in inflation of the USD).