Monday, September 21, 2015

The end of the Gold Standard

NYTimes September 21, 1931

84 years ago Britain left the Gold Standard. Some thought it was the end of Western civilization. Keynes thought it was the beginning of the end of the Depression, at least in Great Britain. He was certainly happy. He said: "There are few Englishmen who do not rejoice at the breaking of our gold fetters. We feel that we have at last a free hand to do what is sensible. The romantic phase is over, and we can begin to discuss realistically what policy is for the best." On the functioning of the Gold Standard and why the conventional view, which according to Eichengreen can still be roughly understood with Hume's specie-flow mechanism, is incorrect go here.

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