Opposition to the gold standard

Economics Economics Questions
1

Since I had the good fortune of being exposed to sites like this before mainstream economic thought, I’m at a loss when it comes to understanding the arguments in favor of fiat currencies. I understand the basic argument for a gold standard or competing currencies, but what are the arguments against them? I’d like to gain a better understanding of the “opposition”. Thanks.

2

The one I am hearing the most is maintaining stable prices. Some schools also believe in maintaining a trade-off between price inflation and unemployment.

3

http://mises.org/media/1410/The-Gold-Standard-in-Theory-and-Myth

Salerno does a good job of laying them out, and debunking them, here.

4

The Gold Standard in Theory and Myth (by Joseph Salerno)

Also:

Division Of Labor and Money (by Hans-Hermann Hoppe)

and

The Theory of Banking (by Hans-Hermann Hoppe)

and

The Economics of Deflation (by Jörg Guido Hülsmann)

From:

http://www.vforvoluntary.com/videos/money and http://www.vforvoluntary.com/videos/austrian-economics

5

Thanks for the excellent replies! Just what I was looking for.

Perhaps I should start another thread for this, but I’m also looking for concise summary of Say’s Law vs. the “mainstream” interpretation.

6

Not concise, but definitely rigorous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgkbdT5V6w

7

Thanks liberty student! That was a really helpful vid.