tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post8583320338344566365..comments2024-03-22T02:37:15.030-05:00Comments on Macro Musings Blog: A Counterfactual QuesitonDavid Beckworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577612979801459194noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-36596628920022203522010-09-15T15:04:56.533-05:002010-09-15T15:04:56.533-05:00Scott:
Richard Timberlake once said in a podcast ...Scott:<br /><br />Richard Timberlake once said in a podcast that it is silly to think of central banking AND the gold standard for "If two men ride a horse, one necessarily rides in back."<br /><br />Proponents of the gold standard, as I understand, would like the central bank to be "riding in back" or, perhaps more clearly, non-existent.<br /><br />In any event, the point Will Lutherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18245369390177307556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-49958324539635192662010-09-15T13:43:58.027-05:002010-09-15T13:43:58.027-05:00Jeez Louise, am I sick of gold. What is it with th...Jeez Louise, am I sick of gold. What is it with the shiny yellow metal? Why not a silver standard, a diamond standard, a platinum standard or a palladium standard?<br /><br />Listen, one time my grandfather told me something I have never forgotten: <br /><br />"All gold is fool's gold."Benjamin Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14001038338873263877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-8071763596686446292010-09-15T13:26:31.312-05:002010-09-15T13:26:31.312-05:00David
You forgot to mention one very important &qu...David<br />You forgot to mention one very important "counterfactual": Maybe Keynesian economics wouldn´t have been born!João Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13658264244033012660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-34973389890925034302010-09-15T12:37:59.186-05:002010-09-15T12:37:59.186-05:00DB: I haven't read it in a while, but I think ...DB: I haven't read it in a while, but I think this is the message inherent in Golden Fetters isnt it?<br />The constellation of political and social factors that underpinned the classical GS was shattered by WWI. It was doomed, just waiting for the right shock to push it into oblivion.<br />Think about the tensions engendered (and observed recently in Florida and NY) by a comparatively minor ecbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-3391404251764169632010-09-15T10:02:23.133-05:002010-09-15T10:02:23.133-05:00The argument here sounds the same as that made in ...The argument here sounds the same as that made in great detail by Clark Johnson in his 1997 book, Gold, France, and the Great Depression.George Selginnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-62060279415318400882010-09-15T07:09:55.290-05:002010-09-15T07:09:55.290-05:00Is it of any relevance that -
1) the depression o...Is it of any relevance that -<br /><br />1) the depression of 1920-21 was deep but short at a time when everyone was off the gold standard due to the recently completed war, and <br /><br />2) After the '29 collapse, countries recovered from the depression in exactly the same order as they again abandoned the gold standard?<br /><br />Cheers!<br />JzBJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-67380980289426605172010-09-14T20:38:01.518-05:002010-09-14T20:38:01.518-05:00David, I agree. Even if countries did follow the...David, I agree. Even if countries did follow the rules of the game, you might well have unstable price levels and/or NGDP. <br /><br />It's not the worst possible system, but the politics of it are pretty much impossible in the modern world. The sort of government activism required to make it work would be much better off being used for NGDP targeting.Scott Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15864819372390187247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-73070454614005607482010-09-14T17:28:44.222-05:002010-09-14T17:28:44.222-05:00ECB: Interesting point that it is simply naive to ...ECB: Interesting point that it is simply naive to expect any other outcome for the gold starndard given WWI. <br /><br />Scott: Wouldn't another strike against the gold standard be the painful price adjustments it would require from time to time? If I recall correctly, Barry Eichengreen argued something along these lines, that democracy and enfranchisement doomed the gold standadrd since the David Beckworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04577612979801459194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-50761054239001510102010-09-14T15:48:22.419-05:002010-09-14T15:48:22.419-05:00In my research on the Depression I also noticed th...In my research on the Depression I also noticed that US and French gold hoarding was the main problem in the early 1930s. But I see that as weakening the case for the gold standard. If you have to assume that all countries maintain a stable ratio of gold to money in order for the gold standard to work, then why not have fiat money? The gold standard was supposed to work even if governments Scott Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15864819372390187247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-6317948563482816692010-09-14T14:02:04.279-05:002010-09-14T14:02:04.279-05:00David, I think the great English historian EP Thom...David, I think the great English historian EP Thompson had the best description of historical counterfactuals. He called it<br />Geschichtswissenschlopf.<br /><br />And the reason it doesn't work in this case is the gold standard was already doomed by World War I. Nobody wanted to play by the rules of the game because well they had just been bayoneting, machine gunning and gassing each other ecbnoreply@blogger.com