Gold Standard

Ed Shanahan on the significance of the Austrian tradition. 

Yet the biggest obstacle to a gold standard, as always, is intellectual. What these Congressmen need is a good monetary education. Four objections invariably crop up when the subject of gold is raised. Here they are, with some short answers.

The Gold Standard Act of 1890, which officially established the gold standard in America, was the culmination of a twenty-year battle between inflationists, who favored unlimited government purchase of silver (the "Free Silver" movement), and the advocates of sound money based on the gold standard. The inflationists were led by Senator John Sherman, author of the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act (as well as the monopolistic Sherman Antitrust Act), brother of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.

Mises demonstrated, as early as 1912, that no good can become a medium of exchange, much less a money, unless it has a previous non-monetary usefulness on the market. In short, money can only emerge as a commodity on the market, and cannot be imposed by the government, by social contract, or by various schemes of economists or other observers. Such plans have elsewhere been labeled correctly by Hayek himself as "constructivist." In short, media of exchange and therefore money can only arise "organically" out of market processes and cannot be imposed by outside schemers.

September 1986 is an historic month in the history of United States monetary policy. For it is the first month in over fifty years—thanks to the heroic leadership of Ron Paul during his four terms in Congress—that the United States Treasury has minted a genuine gold coin. 

The Ludwig von Mises Institute's premier conference was held in Washington, D.C., on November 16–17, 1983. "The Gold Standard: An Austrian Perspective" was the first event of its kind. Not only was it the first academic conference ever held in the United States on the gold standard, but it took place on Capitol Hill. 

Featuring Dr. Naomi Wolf, David Stockman, Guido Hülsmann, and more, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, October 12-14, 2023.

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