The Great Depression and (almost every financial crisis in the 19th century) would have also ended much sooner and been much less painful if governments had ful

The Great Depression and (almost every financial crisis in the 19th century) would have also ended much sooner and been much less painful if governments had full control of their monetary policies. Hard currency/gold standard is usually only preferable to extremely corrupt and/or incompetent governments however in that case you’re fucked anyway. Hard money combined with non static (i.e. expanding) economies results in permanent boom and bust cycles, massive inflation followed by massive deflation every few years. This creates an unpredictable environment which stymies growth and investment.