Nixon closed the gold window on august 15, 1971. After this point there was no tie remaning whatsoever between gold and banknotes. According to Austrian economics, gold imposes a certain discipline on politicians. When this discipline is removed, they are expected to be as indiscreet as possible. This would reflect on the budget deficits. Do you know any study comparing the budget deficits before and after the gold window is closed? I know American data more or less, but I would like to see other data (European for example) confirming this hypothesis. Any help to find the related data would be OK too.
Didn’t you already post this?