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.
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.
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.
xahrx: 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. 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 VforVoluntary.com | Youtube.com/Nielsio | Reddit.com/r/austrian_economics | Post Points: 20
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.
Not concise, but definitely rigorous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgkbdT5V6w
Thanks liberty student! That was a really helpful vid.