Gold

Archive for Gold

Potpourri

==> BMS ep. 140, in which I do some highlights of my latest chapter on the theory and history of the gold standard in the U.S. ==> Barry Eichengreen as Austrian?! ==> A negative review of my review of Stephanie Kelton’s new MMT book. ==> Check out the new Call of Duty trailer!

A Brief History of the Gold Standard, with a Focus on the U.S.

My latest installment for the Mises Institute book on Understanding Money Mechanics. I actually had to do a bunch of research for this one. I learned a lot–maybe you will too!

Gold Prices Prove Krugman Wrong

My latest at Mises CA. An excerpt: However, what happened since early 2014? Gold prices have bounced around in a tight zone, even though 20-year TIPS yields dropped almost a full percentage point. Back in early 2012, when the blue line was at a comparable level, gold prices were above $1,600. And in any event, […]

I Pity the Fool Who Thinks Money Measures Value

A follow-up post at Mises CA: [L]et’s try a different thought experiment. As before, suppose the government locks in the dollar-price of gold, thinking that this will provide a “stable ruler of fixed length” by which people can measure market values. Yet a sudden resurgence of interest in Mr. T causes most Americans to want […]

Quick Observations on Inflation in the 1970s

“Gold bugs” take it for granted that it was no coincidence that the US got hit with stagflation in the 1970s, because Richard Nixon infamously severed the dollar’s last tie to gold in 1971. Others, however, dispute this connection. So I thought it worthwhile to make a simple case in defense of the gold bugs: […]

Tax Treatment Bask

People are getting riled up over the IRS ruling on Bitcoin; this analysis claims that now BTC has no chance as a currency (as opposed to a mere asset that might be useful for many reasons). Here’s my question: Right now, suppose I convinced a bunch of gold bugs to start using gold coins in […]

In Defense of Permabears

In his never-ending campaign to discredit those who warned of financial bubbles before the 2008 crash, Scott Sumner recently quoted with approval the following from Alan Reynolds’ 2010 analysis of Shiller’s thoughts on investing: On the March 9 anniversary of the stock market implosion a year ago, a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal […]

Bob Murphy vs. Bill Still

It’s the master of disaster versus the Money Master. It was supposed to be about money, but then we took off the gloves and started talking anarchy. Oh boy. When I saw the crowd was with him early on, I had to break out my Jimmy Stewart impression. I wasn’t screwing around. Incidentally, I have […]