8 ms·

I probably wouldn't recommend switching to the gold standard but I don't think the idea is "weird" or "no policy". - People ran productive economies for hundre

I probably wouldn't recommend switching to the gold standard but I don't think the idea is "weird" or "no policy". - People ran productive economies for hundreds (thousands?) of years on the Gold standard and it worked. - It's credibly neutral and no one gets the exorbitant privilege of printing money. - The supply expands randomly when new deposits are found but this actually works pretty well. As the economy grows we get better at finding gold so prices stay relatively flat in real terms. - On a gold standard people will waste real resources trying to extract gold to sit in a vault but people waste real resources trying to get printed money too.

Nasrudith 3y ago
Say what you will about fiat, people haven't started wars of conquest to expand the maximum size of their economy because of it. Defining that as "waste of resources" is a massive underestimate.
throw0101b 3y ago
> - People ran productive economies for hundreds (thousands?) of years on the Gold standard and it worked. The Gold Standard (paper currency backed up rocks) only started in 1870. While gold (and silver) coins were used for some monetary needs, most (local) economies actually ran on credit: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years > - The supply expands randomly when new deposits are found but this actually works pretty well. As the economy grows we get better at finding gold so prices stay relatively flat in real terms. No it does not: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine Neither does it add to financial stability: * https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the... * https://archive.ph/FWKcL https://archive.ph/FWKcL

Nasrudith 3y ago

Say what you will about fiat, people haven't started wars of conquest to expand the maximum size of their economy because of it. Defining that as "waste of resources" is a massive underestimate.

throw0101b 3y ago

> - People ran productive economies for hundreds (thousands?) of years on the Gold standard and it worked. The Gold Standard (paper currency backed up rocks) only started in 1870. While gold (and silver) coins were used for some monetary needs, most (local) economies actually ran on credit: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years > - The supply expands randomly when new deposits are found but this actually works pretty well. As the economy grows we get better at finding gold so prices stay relatively flat in real terms. No it does not: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine Neither does it add to financial stability: * https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the... * https://archive.ph/FWKcL https://archive.ph/FWKcL