1. The Coming Fiat Money Cataclysm and the Case for Gold
- Author:
- Kevin Dowd, Martin Hutchinson, and Gordon Kerr
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- A recurring theme in monetary history is the conflict of trust and authority: the conflict between those who advocate a spontaneous monetary order determined by free exchange under the rule of law and those who wish to meddle with the monetary system for their own ends. This conflict is perhaps most clearly seen in the early 20th century controversy over the "state theory of money" (or "chartalism"), which maintained that money is a creature of the state. The one side was represented by the defenders of the old monetary order-most notably by the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, and by the German sociologist Georg Simmel. The other side was represented by the German legal scholar Georg Friedrich Knapp and by John Maynard Keynes. They argued that on monetary matters the government should be free to do whatever it liked, free from any constraints of law or even conventional morality.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- Germany and Australia