> I always find it interesting that one of the first arguments used against a gold standard is that people who argue for it are idiots -- something economists i

> I always find it interesting that one of the first arguments used against a gold standard is that people who argue for it are idiots -- something economists in the US magically discovered when, contrary to previous agreements, we moved off the gold standard in 1968. In large part, economists are evaluated based on whether they are listened to by the "correct" people. Those people are looking for arguments to do what they want to do. Compare Christina and David Romer's work on govt spending and tax cut multipliers http://www.econ.berkeley.edu/~cromer/RomerDraft307.pdf http://www.econ.berkeley.edu/~cromer/RomerDraft307.pdf with their recommendations while in the Obama administration. They're far from the worst - they were just the easiest for me to cite quickly. In fact, I'd argue that they're relatively good because they're so transparent.