«The Case for Gold», published in 1963, is the most systematic and economically rigorous defense of the classical gold standard written in the twentieth century.
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Murray Rothbard argues that the gold standard is not a historical relic but the only monetary system compatible with economic freedom and price stability. He indicts fiat money and fractional reserve banking as systematic appropriation of savings value by governments and banks. Essential for understanding Austrian thinking on money and inflation.
«The Case for Gold», published in 1963, is the most systematic and economically rigorous defense of the classical gold standard written in the twentieth century. Murray Rothbard, economist of the Rothbardian branch of the Austrian School and professor at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, constructs a two-level argument: first, a critical history of the American monetary system from Hamilton to the Federal Reserve, which Rothbard interprets as a progressive usurpation of sound money by the state and the banking system; second, a positive defense of the 100-percent gold standard — with full banking reserves and no fractional reserve banking — as the only monetary system compatible with economic freedom and price stability. The book is technically sound within the framework of Austrian monetary and credit theory, and its historical analysis of the Bretton Woods system and its collapse is perceptive. Its fundamental limitation is that the argument rests on the a priori premises of Austrian methodology that many economists do not accept, and that the 100-percent gold standard proposal has practical implementation problems that Rothbard does not address in sufficient detail. An indispensable reference for anyone wanting to understand Austrian monetary thought in its most radical formulation.
For readers interested in Austrian monetary theory, the history of the American monetary system, and the gold standard debate; requires willingness to engage with the Austrian School's methodological framework.
Fact«The Case for Gold» was originally published in 1963 by the Foundation for Economic Education; Murray Rothbard was also the author of «Man, Economy, and State» (1962), the systematic work of Rothbardian Austrian economic theory.
