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[[File:Two 20kr gold coins.png|thumb|right|Two golden 20 kr coins from the [[Scandinavian Monetary Union]], which was based on a gold standard. The coin to the left is [[Sweden|Swedish]] and the right one is [[Denmark|Danish]].]]
[[File:Us-gold-certificate-1922.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gold certificate]]s were used as [[paper currency]] in the [[United States]] from 1882 to 1933.  These certificates were freely convertible into [[gold coin]]s.]]
[[File:Gold Bars.jpg|thumb|right|Under a gold bullion standard, paper notes are convertible at a preset, fixed rate with [[gold bullion]].]]

A '''gold standard''' is a [[Monetary system#Commodity money system|monetary system]] in which the standard [[economics|economic]] [[unit of account]] is based on a fixed quantity of [[gold]]. Three types can be distinguished: specie, bullion, and exchange.
* In the ''gold specie standard'' the monetary unit is associated with the value of circulating gold coins, or the monetary unit has the value of a certain circulating gold coin, but other coins may be made of less valuable metal. 
* The ''gold bullion standard'' is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell [[gold bullion]] on demand at a fixed price in exchange for the circulating currency.
* The ''gold exchange standard'' usually does not involve the circulation of gold coins. The main feature of the gold exchange standard is that the government guarantees a [[fixed exchange rate]] to the currency of another country that uses a gold standard (specie or bullion), regardless of what type of notes or coins are used as a means of exchange. This creates a ''[[de facto]]'' gold standard, where the value of the means of exchange has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent value of the means of exchange itself.

Most nations abandoned the gold standard as the basis of their monetary systems at some point in the 20th century, although many hold substantial [[gold reserve]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Gold standard Facts, information, pictures Encyclopedia.com articles about Gold standard|url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Gold_standard.aspx|website = www.encyclopedia.com|accessdate = 2015-12-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What Is Left of the Gold Standard? |author=William O. Scroggs |website=foreignaffairs.com |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/69483/william-o-scroggs/what-is-left-of-the-gold-standard|accessdate=28 January 2015}}</ref> A 2012 survey of leading American economists showed that they unanimously reject that a return to the gold standard would benefit the average American.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/business/economy/the-good-old-days-of-the-gold-standard-not-really-historians-say.html|title=G.O.P. Candidates Viewing Economy’s Past Through Gold-Colored Glasses|last=Appelbaum|first=Binyamin|date=2015-12-01|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-07-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

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==History==
{{Refimprove section|date=July 2010}}
{{Hatnote|All references to "dollars" in this section refer to the [[United States dollar]], unless otherwise stated.}}

===Origin===
The gold specie standard arose from the widespread acceptance of gold as currency.{{sfn|Lipsey|1975|pp=683-702}} Various commodities have been used as [[money]]; typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form.<ref>{{harvnb|Bordo|Dittmar|Gavin|2003}} "in a world with two capital goods, the one with the lower depreciation rate emerges as commodity money"</ref> Chemically, gold is of all major [[precious metal|metals]] the one most resistant to corrosion.{{fact|date=April 2018}}

The use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor.<ref>{{Cite web|title = World's Oldest Coin - First Coins|url = http://rg.ancients.info/lion/article.html|website = rg.ancients.info|accessdate = 2015-12-05}}</ref>

During the early and high [[Middle Ages]], the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] gold [[Solidus (coin)|solidus]], commonly known as the [[bezant]], was used widely throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.  However, as the Byzantine Empire's economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lopez|first=Robert Sabatino|title=The Dollar of the Middle Ages|journal=The Journal of Economic History|date=Summer 1951|volume=11|issue=3|pages=209–234|jstor=2113933|doi=10.1017/s0022050700084746}}</ref>  In its place, European territories chose silver as their currency over gold, leading to the development of [[silver standard]]s.{{fact|date=April 2018}}

Silver [[penny|pennies]] based on the Roman [[denarius]] became the staple coin of [[Mercia]] in [[Great Britain]] around the time of [[King Offa]], circa 757–796 CE.<ref>Keary, Charles Francis. (2005). A Catalogue of English Coins in the British Museum. Anglo-Saxon Series. Volume I. Poole, Reginald Stewart, ed. Elibron Classics. pp. ii, xxii–xxv</ref> Similar coins, including Italian denari, French [[French denier|deniers]], and [[Spanish dinero]]s, circulated in Europe. Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in [[Mexico]] in 1522 and at [[Potosí]] in [[Bolivia]] in 1545.<ref>Rothwell, Richard Pennefather. (1893). Universal Bimetallism and An International Monetary Clearing House, together with A Record of the World's Money, Statistics of Gold and Silver, Etc. New York: The Scientific Publishing Company. pp. 45.</ref> International trade came to depend on coins such as the [[Spanish dollar]], the [[Maria Theresa thaler]], and, later, the United States [[Trade dollar (United States coin)|trade dollar]].{{fact|date=April 2018}}

In modern times, the [[British West Indies]] was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard. Following [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]'s proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a ''[[de facto]]'' gold standard based on the Spanish gold [[doubloon]]. In 1717, Sir [[Isaac Newton]], the master of the [[Royal Mint]], established a new mint ratio between silver and gold that had the effect of driving silver out of circulation and putting Britain on a gold standard.<ref>Andrei, Liviu C. (2011). Money and Market in the Economy of All Times: Another World History of Money and Pre-Money Based Economies. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 146–147.</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}

A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] adopted it following the introduction of the [[gold sovereign]] by the new Royal Mint at [[Tower Hill]] in 1816. The [[United Province of Canada]] in 1854, [[History of Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] in 1865, and the [[United States]] and Germany (''[[de jure]]'') in 1873 adopted gold.  The United States used the [[Eagle (United States coin)|eagle]] as its unit, Germany introduced the new [[gold mark]], while Canada adopted a dual system based on both the American gold eagle and the British gold sovereign.<ref>[https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dollar_book.pdf James Powell, ''A History of the Canadian Dollar'' (Ottawa:  Bank of Canada, 2005]), pp. 22-23, 33.</ref>

[[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] adopted the British gold standard, as did the British West Indies, while Newfoundland was the only [[British Empire]] territory to introduce its own gold coin.<ref>Consolidated Statutes of Newfoundland (1st Series, 1874), Title XXV, "Of the Regulation of Trade in Certain Cases", c. 92, ''Of the Currency'', s. 8.</ref> Royal Mint branches were established in [[Sydney]], [[Melbourne]], and [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] for the purpose of minting gold sovereigns from Australia's rich gold deposits.{{fact|date=April 2018}}

The gold specie standard came to an end in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire with the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/olympic-britain/the-economy/small-change/|title=Small change|website=UK Parliament|language=English|access-date=2019-02-09}}</ref>

===Silver===
From 1750 to 1870, wars within Europe as well as an ongoing trade deficit with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of Western Europe and the United States.  Coins were struck in smaller and smaller numbers, and there was a proliferation of bank and stock notes used as money.

====United Kingdom====
In the 1790s, the United Kingdom suffered a silver shortage. It ceased to mint larger silver coins and instead issued "token" silver coins and overstruck foreign coins.  With the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the [[Bank of England]] began the [[Great Recoinage of 1816|massive recoinage programme]] that created standard gold sovereigns, circulating crowns, half-crowns and eventually copper farthings in 1821.  The recoinage of silver after a long drought produced a burst of coins. The United Kingdom struck nearly 40 million shillings between 1816 and 1820, 17 million half crowns and 1.3 million silver crowns.

The [[Peel's Bill|1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments]] set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility, which was reached by 1821. Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks. This was restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches. In 1833 however, [[Bank of England]] notes were made [[legal tender]] and redemption by other banks was discouraged.  In 1844, the [[Bank Charter Act 1844|Bank Charter Act]] established that Bank of England notes were fully backed by gold and they became the legal standard.  According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844 act marked the establishment of a full gold standard for British money.

====United States====
In the 1780s, [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] and [[Alexander Hamilton]] recommended to Congress the value of a decimal system. This system would also apply to monies in the United States. The question was what type of standard: gold, silver or both.{{sfn|Walton|Rockoff|2010}} The United States adopted a silver standard based on the [[Spanish dollar|Spanish milled dollar]] in 1785.

====International====
From 1860 to 1871 various attempts to resurrect bi-metallic standards were made, including one based on the gold and silver franc; however, with the rapid influx of silver from new deposits, the expectation of scarce silver ended.

The interaction between central banking and currency basis formed the primary source of monetary instability during this period. The combination of a restricted supply of notes, a government monopoly on note issuance and indirectly, a central bank and a single unit of value produced economic stability. Deviation from these conditions produced monetary crises.

Devalued notes or leaving silver as a [[store of value]] caused economic problems. Governments, demanding specie as payment, could drain the money out of the economy. Economic development expanded need for credit. The need for a solid basis in monetary affairs produced a rapid acceptance of the gold standard in the period that followed.

====Japan====
Following Germany's decision after the 1870–1871 [[Franco-Prussian War]] to extract reparations to facilitate a move to the gold standard, Japan gained the needed reserves after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For Japan, moving to gold was considered vital for gaining access to Western capital markets.<ref name="ease">{{Cite book|first=Mark |last=Metzler |title=Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=2006 |url=http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1166 |isbn=978-0-520-24420-7}}</ref>

===Bimetallic standard===

====US: Pre-Civil War====
In 1792, Congress passed the [[Coinage Act of 1792|Mint and Coinage Act]]. It authorized the federal government's use of the Bank of the United States to hold its reserves, as well as establish a fixed ratio of gold to the U.S. dollar. Gold and silver coins were legal tender, as was the [[Spanish real]]. In 1792 the market price of gold was about 15 times that of silver.{{sfn|Walton|Rockoff|2010}} Silver coins left circulation, exported to pay for the debts taken on to finance the [[American Revolutionary War]]. In 1806 President Jefferson suspended the minting of silver coins. This resulted in a derivative silver standard, since the Bank of the United States was not required to fully back its currency with reserves. This began a long series of attempts by the United States to create a [[Bimetallism|bi-metallic standard]].

The intention was to use gold for large denominations, and silver for smaller denominations.  A problem with bimetallic standards was that the metals' absolute and relative market prices changed. The mint ratio (the rate at which the mint was obligated to pay/receive for gold relative to silver) remained fixed at 15 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold, whereas the market rate fluctuated from 15.5 to 1 to 16 to 1. With the [[Coinage Act of 1834]], Congress passed an act that changed the mint ratio to approximately 16 to 1. [[California gold rush|Gold discoveries in California]] in 1848 and later in Australia lowered the gold price relative to silver; this drove silver money from circulation because it was worth more in the market than as money.{{sfn|Elwell|2011}} Passage of the Independent Treasury Act of 1848 placed the U.S. on a strict hard-money standard. Doing business with the American government required gold or silver coins.

Government accounts were legally separated from the banking system. However, the mint ratio (the fixed exchange rate between gold and silver at the mint) continued to overvalue gold. In 1853, the US reduced the silver weight of coins to keep them in circulation and in 1857 removed legal tender status from foreign coinage. In 1857 the final crisis of the free banking era began as American banks suspended payment in silver, with ripples through the developing international financial system. Due to the inflationary finance measures undertaken to help pay for the [[US Civil War]], the government found it difficult to pay its obligations in gold or silver and suspended  payments of obligations not legally specified in specie (gold bonds); this led banks to suspend the conversion of bank liabilities (bank notes and deposits) into specie. In 1862 paper money was made legal tender. It was a [[fiat money]] (not convertible on demand at a fixed rate into specie). These notes came to be called "[[Demand Note|greenbacks]]".{{sfn|Elwell|2011}}

====US: Post-Civil War====
After the Civil War, Congress wanted to reestablish the metallic standard at pre-war rates. The market price of gold in greenbacks was above the pre-War fixed price ($20.67 per ounce of gold) requiring [[deflation]] to achieve the pre-War price. This was accomplished by growing the stock of money less rapidly than real output. By 1879 the market price matched the mint price of gold. The [[Coinage Act of 1873|coinage act of 1873]] (also known as the Crime of ‘73) demonetized silver. This act removed the 412.5 grain silver dollar from circulation. Subsequently silver was only used in coins worth less than $1 (fractional currency). With the resumption of convertibility on June 30, 1879 the government again paid its debts in gold, accepted greenbacks for customs and redeemed greenbacks on demand in gold. Greenbacks were therefore perfect substitutes for gold coins. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the use of silver and a return to the bimetallic standard were recurrent political issues, raised especially by [[William Jennings Bryan]], the [[People's Party (United States)|People's Party]] and the  [[Free Silver]] movement. In 1900 the gold dollar was declared the standard unit of account and a gold reserve for government issued paper notes was established. Greenbacks, silver certificates, and silver dollars continued to be legal tender, all redeemable in gold.{{sfn|Elwell|2011}}

===Fluctuations in the US gold stock, 1862–1877===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;"
|-
! colspan=2|US gold stock
|-
| 1862 || 59 tons
|-
| 1866 || 81 tons
|-
| 1875 || 50 tons
|-
| 1878 || 78 tons
|}
The US had a gold stock of 1.9 million ounces (59 t) in 1862. Stocks rose to 2.6 million ounces (81 t) in 1866, declined in 1875 to 1.6 million ounces (50 t) and rose to 2.5 million ounces (78 t) in 1878. Net exports did not mirror that pattern. In the decade before the Civil War net exports were roughly constant; postwar they varied erratically around pre-war levels, but fell significantly in 1877 and became negative in 1878 and 1879. The net import of gold meant that the foreign demand for American currency to purchase goods, services, and investments exceeded the corresponding American demands for foreign currencies. In the final years of the greenback period (1862–1879), gold production increased while gold exports decreased.  The decrease in gold exports was considered by some to be a result of changing monetary conditions. The demands for gold during this period were as a speculative vehicle, and for its primary use in the foreign exchange markets financing international trade. The major effect of the increase in gold demand by the public and Treasury was to reduce exports of gold and increase the Greenback price of gold relative to purchasing power.{{sfn|Friedman|Schwartz|1963|p=79}}

===Gold exchange standard===
{{refimprove section|date=March 2013}}
Towards the end of the 19th century, some silver standard countries began to peg their silver coin units to the gold standards of the United Kingdom or the United States. In 1898, [[British India]] pegged the silver [[rupee]] to the [[pound sterling]] at a fixed rate of 1s 4d, while in 1906, the [[Straits Settlements]] adopted a gold exchange standard against sterling, fixing the silver Straits dollar at 2s 4d.

Around the start of the 20th century, the [[Philippines]] pegged the silver peso/dollar to the U.S. dollar at 50 cents. This move was assisted by the passage of the Philippines Coinage Act by the [[United States Congress]] on March 3, 1903.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kemmerer|first=Edwin Walter|title=Gold and the Gold Standard: The Story of Gold Money Past, Present and Future|year=1994|publisher=McGraw-Hill Book, Company, Inc|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn= 9781610164429|pages=154 (238 pg)|url={{google books|id=_aDIEAre3GMC|pp=2-3|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> Around the same time [[Mexico]] and Japan pegged their currencies to the dollar. When [[Siam]] adopted a gold exchange standard in 1908, only [[China]] and [[Hong Kong]] remained on the silver standard.

When adopting the gold standard, many European nations changed the name of their currency, for instance from [[Daler (disambiguation)|Daler]] ([[Sweden]] and [[Denmark]]) or [[Austro-Hungarian gulden|Gulden]] ([[Austria-Hungary]]) to Crown, since the former names were traditionally associated with silver coins and the latter with gold coins.

=== Impact of World War I ===
Governments with insufficient tax revenue suspended [[convertibility]] repeatedly in the 19th century. The real test, however, came in the form of [[World War I]], a test which "it failed utterly" according to economist [[Richard Lipsey]].{{sfn|Lipsey|1975|pp=683-702}}

By the end of 1913, the classical gold standard was at its peak but World War I caused many countries to suspend or abandon it.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Nicholson, J. S.|authorlink=Joseph Shield Nicholson|title=The Abandonment of the Gold Standard|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=April 1915|volume=223|pages=409–423|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d001510207;view=1up;seq=431}}</ref> According to Lawrence Officer the main cause of the gold standard’s failure to resume its previous position after World War I was “the Bank of England's precarious liquidity position and the gold-exchange standard.” A run on sterling caused Britain to impose exchange controls that fatally weakened the standard; convertibility was not legally suspended, but gold prices no longer played the role that they did before.<ref>Officer</ref> In financing the war and abandoning gold, many of the belligerents suffered drastic [[inflation]]s. Price levels doubled in the US and Britain, tripled in France and quadrupled in Italy. Exchange rates changed less, even though European inflations were more severe than America’s. This meant that the costs of American goods decreased relative to those in Europe. Between August 1914 and spring of 1915, the dollar value of US exports tripled and its trade surplus exceeded $1 billion for the first time.{{sfn|Eichengreen|1995}}

Ultimately, the system could not deal quickly enough with the large [[balance of payments]] deficits and surpluses; this was previously attributed to downward wage rigidity brought about by the advent of [[trade union|unionized labor]], but is now considered as an inherent fault of the system that arose under the pressures of war and rapid technological change. In any case, prices had not reached equilibrium by the time of the [[Great Depression]], which served to kill off the system completely.{{sfn|Lipsey|1975|pp=683-702}}

For example, [[Germany]] had gone off the gold standard in 1914, and could not effectively return to it because [[War reparations]] had cost it much of its gold reserves. During the [[Occupation of the Ruhr]] the German central bank ([[Reichsbank]]) issued enormous sums of non-convertible marks to support workers who were on strike against the French occupation and to buy foreign currency for reparations; this led to the [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|German hyperinflation of the early 1920s]] and the decimation of the German middle class.

The US did not suspend the gold standard during the war.  The newly created [[Federal Reserve]] intervened in currency markets and sold bonds to “[[sterilization (economics)|sterilize]]” some of the gold imports that would have otherwise increased the stock of money.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} By 1927 many countries had returned to the gold standard.{{sfn|Elwell|2011}} As a result of World War I the United States, which had been a net debtor country, had become a net creditor by 1919.<ref>Drummond, Ian M. The Gold Standard and the International Monetary System 1900–1939. Macmillan Education, LTD, 1987.</ref>

===Abandonment of the gold standard===
[[File:McKinley Prosperity.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William McKinley]] ran for president on the basis of the gold standard.]]
The gold specie standard ended in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire at the outbreak of World War I, when Treasury notes replaced the circulation of gold sovereigns and gold half sovereigns.  Legally, the gold specie standard was not repealed. The end of the gold standard was successfully effected by the Bank of England through appeals to patriotism urging citizens not to redeem paper money for gold specie. It was only in 1925, when Britain returned to the gold standard in conjunction with Australia and South Africa, that the gold specie standard was officially ended.

The British Gold Standard Act 1925 both introduced the gold bullion standard and simultaneously repealed the gold specie standard. The new standard ended the circulation of gold specie coins. Instead, the law compelled the authorities to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price, but "only in the form of bars containing approximately four hundred [[troy ounce|ounces troy]] [12&nbsp;kg] of [[fine gold]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/pdfy-eda-a8jaQS5E9hKh |title=Gold Standard Act 1925 1.c.2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://freetheplanet.net/articles/101/gold-standard-act-1925 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713131546/http://freetheplanet.net/articles/101/gold-standard-act-1925 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2012-07-13 |title=Articles: Free the Planet: Gold Standard Act 1925 |publisher=Free the Planet |date=2009-06-10 |accessdate=2012-07-09 }}</ref> [[John Maynard Keynes]], citing deflationary dangers, argued against resumption of the gold standard.<ref>{{cite book|first=John Maynard |last=Keynes |authorlink=John Maynard Keynes |title=Economic Consequences of the Peace |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Rowe |location = New York |year=1920}}</ref> By fixing the price at the pre-war rate of $4.86,{{clarify|date=July 2018}}<!-- surely Churchill would have fixed the price in sterling rather than dollars --> Churchill is argued to have made an error that led to depression, unemployment and the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|1926 general strike]]. The decision was described by [[Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull|Andrew Turnbull]] as a "historic mistake".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/29/thatcher-warned-major-about-exchange-rate-risks-before-erm-crisis |title=Thatcher warned Major about exchange rate risks before ERM crisis |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |date=2017-12-29 |accessdate=2017-12-29 }}</ref>

Many other countries followed Britain in returning to the gold standard, this was followed by a period of relative stability but also deflation.<ref>Cassel, Gustav. The Downfall of the Gold Standard. Oxford University Press, 1936.</ref> This state of affairs lasted until the [[Great Depression]] (1929–1939) forced countries off the gold standard. In September 19, 1931, speculative attacks on the pound forced Britain to abandon the gold standard. Loans from American and French Central Banks of £50,000,000 were insufficient and exhausted in a matter of weeks, due to large gold outflows across the Atlantic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freetheplanet.net/articles/119/chancellor-s-commons-speech-21-september-1931 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709081110/http://freetheplanet.net/articles/119/chancellor-s-commons-speech-21-september-1931 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2012-07-09 |title=Chancellor's Commons Speech |publisher=Freetheplanet.net |accessdate=2012-07-09 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Barry J. |last=Eichengreen|title=Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System|url={{google books |id=_iNqESd-9R0C|p=61-|plainurl=yes}}|accessdate=November 23, 2010|date=September 15, 2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13937-1|pages=61–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Officer, Lawrence |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/officer.gold.standard |title=Breakdown of the Interwar Gold Standard |publisher=Eh.net |accessdate=2012-07-09|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124102010/http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/officer.gold.standard|archivedate=November 24, 2005}}</ref> The British benefited from this departure. They could now use monetary policy to stimulate the economy. Australia and New Zealand had already left the standard and Canada quickly followed suit.

The interwar partially backed gold standard was inherently unstable, because of the conflict between the expansion of liabilities to foreign central banks and the resulting deterioration in the Bank of England's reserve ratio. France was then attempting to make Paris a world class financial center, and it received large gold flows as well.<ref>{{cite web|author=Officer, Lawrence |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/officer.gold.standard |title=there was ongoing tension with France, that resented the sterling-dominated gold- exchange standard and desired to cash in its sterling holding for gold to aid its objective of achieving first-class financial status for Paris |publisher=Eh.net |accessdate=2012-07-09|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124102010/http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/officer.gold.standard|archivedate=November 24, 2005}}</ref>

In May 1931 a run on [[Creditanstalt|Austria's largest commercial bank]] caused it to fail. The run spread to Germany, where the central bank also collapsed. International financial assistance was too late and in July 1931 Germany adopted exchange controls, followed by Austria in October. The Austrian and German experiences, as well as British budgetary and political difficulties, were among the factors that destroyed confidence in sterling, which occurred in mid-July 1931. Runs ensued and the Bank of England lost much of its reserves.

===Depression and World War II===
[[File:Graph charting income per capita throughout the Great Depression.svg|thumb|400px|Ending the gold standard and economic recovery during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>International data from {{cite web|first=Angus|last=Maddison|authorlink=Angus Maddison|title=Historical Statistics for the World Economy: 1–2003 AD|url=http://www.ggdc.net/Maddison/Historical_Statistics/|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None-->}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Gold dates culled from historical sources, principally {{Cite book|title=Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939|authorlink=Barry Eichengreen|first=Barry|last=Eichengreen|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=1992|isbn=978-0-19-506431-5|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>]]

====[[Great Depression]]====
Some economic historians, such as [[Barry Eichengreen]], blame the gold standard of the 1920s for prolonging the [[Depression (economics)|economic depression]] which started in 1929 and lasted for about a decade.{{sfn|Eichengreen|1995|loc=Preface}} In the United States, adherence to the gold standard prevented the Federal Reserve from expanding the money supply to stimulate the economy, fund insolvent banks and fund government deficits that could "prime the pump" for an expansion. Once off the gold standard, it became free to engage in such [[money creation]]. The gold standard limited the flexibility of the central banks' monetary policy by limiting their ability to expand the money supply. In the US, the central bank was required by the [[Federal Reserve Act]] (1913) to have gold backing 40% of its demand notes.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Elasticity of the Federal Reserve Note|journal=The American Economic Review|publisher=ITHAKA|author=American Economic Association|year=2000–2011|jstor=1807996|volume=26|issue=4|pages=683–690}}</ref> Others including former Federal Reserve Chairman [[Ben Bernanke]] and [[Nobel Prize]]-winner [[Milton Friedman]] place the blame for the severity and length of the Great Depression at the feet of the Federal Reserve, mostly due to the deliberate tightening of monetary policy even after the end of the gold standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/default.htm |title=Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke At the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman |publisher=The Federal Reserve Board |date=November 8, 2002 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> They blamed the US major economic contraction in 1937 on tightening of monetary policy resulting in higher cost of capital, weaker securities markets, reduced net government contribution to income, the undistributed profits tax and higher labor costs.{{sfn|Friedman|Schwartz|1963|p=543}} The money supply peaked in March 1937, with a trough in May 1938.{{sfn|Friedman|Schwartz|1963|p=544}}

Higher interest rates intensified the deflationary pressure on the dollar and reduced investment in U.S. banks.  Commercial banks converted [[Federal Reserve Notes]] to gold in 1931, reducing its gold reserves and forcing a corresponding reduction in the amount of currency in circulation. This speculative attack created a panic in the U.S. banking system.  Fearing imminent devaluation many depositors withdrew funds from U.S. banks.<ref name="federalreserve2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200403022/default.htm |title=FRB: Speech, Bernanke-Money, Gold, and the Great Depression – March 2, 2004 |publisher=Federalreserve.gov |date=2004-03-02 |accessdate=2010-07-24}}</ref> As bank runs grew, a reverse multiplier effect caused a contraction in the money supply.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mises.org/rothbard/AGD/chapter10.asp |title=1931—"The Tragic Year" |publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute |accessdate=December 24, 2011|quote=The inflationary attempts of the government from January to October were thus offset by the people's attempts to convert their bank deposits into legal tender" "Hence, the will of the public caused bank reserves to decline by $400 million in the latter half of 1931, and the money supply, as a consequence, fell by over four billion dollars in the same period.}}</ref> Additionally the New York Fed had loaned over $150 million in gold (over 240 tons) to European Central Banks. This transfer contracted the US money supply. The foreign loans became questionable once [[United Kingdom|Britain]], Germany, Austria and other European countries went off the gold standard in 1931 and weakened confidence in the dollar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mises.org/rothbard/AGD/chapter10.asp |title=1931—"The Tragic Year" |quote=Throughout the European crisis, the Federal Reserve, particularly the New York Bank, tried its best to aid the European governments and to prop up unsound credit positions. ... The New York Federal Reserve loaned, in 1931, $125 million to the Bank of England, $25 million to the German Reichsbank, and smaller amounts to Hungary and Austria. As a result, much frozen assets were shifted, to become burdens to the United States. |publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref>

The forced contraction of the money supply resulted in deflation. Even as nominal interest rates dropped, deflation-adjusted real interest rates remained high, rewarding those who held onto money instead of spending it, further slowing the economy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eh.net/Clio/ASSAPapers/Hanes.pdf|title=In the 1930s, the United States was in a situation that satisfied the conditions for a liquidity trap. Over 1929–1933 overnight rates fell to zero, and they remained on the floor through the 1930's.|publisher=|deadurl=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040722174808/http://www.eh.net/Clio/ASSAPapers/Hanes.pdf|archivedate=2004-07-22|df=}}</ref> Recovery in the United States was slower than in Britain, in part due to Congressional reluctance to abandon the gold standard and float the U.S. currency as Britain had done.<ref>''The European Economy between Wars''; Feinstein, Temin, and Toniolo</ref>

In the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve defended the dollar by raising interest rates, trying to increase the demand for dollars. This helped attract international investors who bought foreign assets with gold.<ref name="federalreserve2004"/>

Congress passed the [[Gold Reserve Act]] on 30 January 1934; the measure nationalized all gold by ordering Federal Reserve banks to turn over their supply to the U.S. Treasury. In return the banks received gold certificates to be used as reserves against deposits and Federal Reserve notes. The act also authorized the president to devalue the gold dollar. Under this authority the president, on 31 January 1934, changed the value of the dollar from $20.67 to the troy ounce to $35 to the troy ounce, a devaluation of over 40%.

Other factors in the prolongation of the Great Depression include [[trade wars]] and the reduction in [[international trade]] caused by barriers such as [[Smoot–Hawley Tariff]] in the US and the [[Imperial Preference]] policies of Great Britain,<ref>{{cite news|author=Dominic Sandbrook |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080534/Loss-faith-democracy-make-2012-frightening-year-ever.html |title=In August 1932, the British colonies and dominions met in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, and agreed a policy of Imperial Preference, putting high tariffs on goods from outside the Empire |publisher=Dailymail.co.uk |date=2011-12-31 |accessdate=2012-07-09 |location=London}}</ref> the failure of central banks to act responsibly,<ref>M. Friedman "the severity of each of the major contractions&nbsp;– 1920–21, 1929–33 and 1937–38 is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities".</ref> government policies designed to prevent wages from falling, such as the [[Davis–Bacon Act]] of 1931, during the deflationary period resulting in production costs dropping slower than sales prices, thereby injuring business profits<ref>{{cite web|author=Robert P. Murphy |url=https://mises.org/daily/3778 |title=Another major factor is that governments in the 1930s were interfering with wages and prices more so than at any prior point in (peacetime) history |publisher=Mises.org |accessdate=2012-07-09}}</ref> and increases in taxes to reduce budget deficits and to support new programs such as [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]. The US top marginal income tax rate went from 25% to 63% in 1932 and to 79% in 1936,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb-0303-14.pdf|title=High Taxes and High Budget Deficits-The Hoover–Roosevelt Tax Increases of the 1930s |publisher=}}</ref> while the bottom rate increased over tenfold, from .375% in 1929 to 4% in 1932.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/10x-increase-in-taxes-during-great.html |title=per data from Economics Professor Mark J. Perry |publisher=Mjperry.blogspot.com |date=2008-11-09 |accessdate=2012-07-09}}</ref> The concurrent massive drought resulted in the US [[Dust Bowl]].

The [[Austrian School]] asserted that the Great Depression was the result of a credit bust.<ref>{{cite web|last=Eichengreen |first=Barry |last2=Mitchener |first2=Kris |url=http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~eichengr/research/bisconferencerevision5jul30-03.pdf |title=The Great Depression as a Credit Boom Gone Wrong |date=August 2003 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> [[Alan Greenspan]] wrote that the bank failures of the 1930s were sparked by Great Britain dropping the gold standard in 1931. This act "tore asunder" any remaining confidence in the banking system.<ref>Gold and Economic Freedom by Alan Greenspan 1966 "Great Britain fared even worse, and rather than absorb the full consequences of her previous folly, she abandoned the gold standard completely in 1931, tearing asunder what remained of the fabric of confidence and inducing a world-wide series of bank failures."</ref> Financial historian  [[Niall Ferguson]] wrote that what made the Great Depression truly 'great' was the [[European banking crisis of 1931]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Farrell |first=Paul B. |url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/our-decade-from-hell-will-get-worse-in-2012-2011-12-13?link=MW_story_popular |title=Our decade from hell will get worse in 2012 |quote=As financial historian Niall Ferguson writes in Newsweek: "Double-Dip Depression&nbsp;... We forget that the Great Depression was like a soccer match, there were two halves." The 1929 crash kicked off the first half. But what "made the depression truly 'great'&nbsp;... began with the European banking crisis of 1931." Sound familiar? |publisher=MarketWatch |date=December 13, 2011 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> According to Fed Chairman [[Marriner Eccles]], the root cause was the concentration of wealth resulting in a stagnating or decreasing standard of living for the poor and middle class. These classes went into debt, producing the credit explosion of the 1920s. Eventually the debt load grew too heavy, resulting in the massive defaults and financial panics of the 1930s.<ref>Aftershock by Robert B. Reich,  published 2010 Chapter 1 Eccles's Insight.</ref>

====World War II====
Under the [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods international monetary agreement of 1944]], the gold standard was kept without domestic convertibility. The role of gold was severely constrained, as other countries’ currencies were fixed in terms of the dollar. Many countries kept reserves in gold and settled accounts in gold. Still they preferred to settle balances with other currencies, with the American dollar becoming the favorite. The [[International Monetary Fund]] was established to help with the exchange process and assist nations in maintaining fixed rates. Within Bretton Woods adjustment was cushioned through credits that helped countries avoid deflation. Under the old standard, a country with an overvalued currency would lose gold and experience deflation until the currency was again valued correctly. Most countries defined their currencies in terms of dollars, but some countries imposed trading restrictions to protect reserves and exchange rates. Therefore, most countries' currencies were still basically inconvertible. In the late 1950s, the exchange restrictions were dropped and gold became an important element in international financial settlements.{{sfn|Elwell|2011}}

===Bretton Woods===
{{Refimprove section|date=October 2013}}
{{Main|Bretton Woods system}}
After the [[Second World War]], a system similar to a gold standard and sometimes described as a "gold exchange standard" was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements. Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and central banks could exchange dollar holdings into gold at the official exchange rate of $35 per ounce; this option was not available to firms or individuals. All currencies pegged to the dollar thereby had a fixed value in terms of gold.{{sfn|Lipsey|1975|pp=683-702}}

Starting in the 1959–1969 administration of President [[Charles de Gaulle]] and continuing until 1970, France reduced its dollar reserves, exchanging them for gold at the official exchange rate, reducing US economic influence. This, along with the fiscal strain of federal expenditures for the [[Vietnam War]] and persistent balance of payments deficits, led U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] to end international convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold on August 15, 1971 (the "[[Nixon Shock]]").

This was meant to be a temporary measure, with the gold price of the dollar and the official rate of exchanges remaining constant. Revaluing currencies was the main purpose of this plan. No official revaluation or redemption occurred. The dollar subsequently floated. In December 1971, the "[[Smithsonian Agreement]]" was reached. In this agreement, the dollar was devalued from $35 per troy ounce of gold to $38. Other countries' currencies appreciated. However, gold convertibility did not resume. In October 1973, the price was raised to $42.22. Once again, the devaluation was insufficient. Within two weeks of the second devaluation the dollar was left to float. The $42.22 par value was made official in September 1973, long after it had been abandoned in practice. In October 1976, the government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. From this point, the international monetary system was made of pure fiat money.

==Production of gold==
An estimated total of 174,100 [[tonne]]s of gold have been mined in human history, according to [[GFMS]] as of 2012. This is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion [[troy ounce]]s or, in terms of volume, about {{convert|9261|m3}}, or a [[cube]] {{convert|21|m}} on a side. There are varying estimates of the total volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years. Another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the gold output in illegal mining activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100|title=How much gold is there in the world?|last=Prior|first=Ed|date=1 April 2013|publisher=|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref>

World production for 2011 was circa 2,700 [[tonne]]s. Since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with [[world population]] growth (i.e. a doubling in this period)<ref name="World Gold Council FAQ">{{cite web|url=http://www.gold.org/investment/why_how_and_where/faqs/#q022|title=FAQs &#124; Investment &#124; World Gold Council|publisher=Gold.org|accessdate=2013-09-12}}</ref> although it has lagged behind world economic growth (approximately 8-fold increase since the 1950s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/usgdp/result.php?year_source=1990&year_result=2012&use%5B%5D=GDPDEFLATION|title=Measuring Worth - GDP result.|publisher=}}</ref>, and 4x since 1980<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2013/01/weodata/download.aspx|title=Download entire World Economic Outlook database, April 2013|publisher=}}</ref>).

==Theory==
{{Refimprove section|date=May 2015}}
[[Commodity money]] is inconvenient to store and transport in large amounts. Furthermore, it does not allow a government to manipulate the flow of commerce with the same ease that a fiat currency does. As such, commodity money gave way to [[representative money]] and gold and other [[Coin|specie]] were retained as its backing.

Gold was a preferred form of money due to its rarity, durability, divisibility, [[fungibility]] and ease of identification,<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite book|first=Shepard |last=Krech |author2=John Robert McNeill |author3=[[Carolyn Merchant]] |title=Encyclopedia of world environmental history |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=[[New York City]] |year=2004 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8whW1e–jaHsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=9780415937344&cad=0#PPA597,M1 597] |isbn=978-0-415-93734-4 |oclc=174950341}}</ref> often in conjunction with silver. Silver was typically the main circulating medium, with gold as the monetary reserve. Commodity money was anonymous, as identifying marks can be removed. Commodity money retains its value despite what may happen to the monetary authority. After the fall of [[South Vietnam]], many refugees carried their wealth to the West in gold after the national currency became worthless.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

Under commodity standards currency itself has no intrinsic value, but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed any time for the equivalent specie. A [[Silver certificate (United States)|US silver certificate]], for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.

Representative money and the gold standard protect citizens from [[hyperinflation]] and other abuses of monetary policy, as were seen in some countries during the Great Depression. Commodity money conversely led to deflation and bank runs.

Countries that left the gold standard earlier than other countries recovered from the Great Depression sooner. For example, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost entirely avoided the depression (due to the fact it was then barely integrated into the global economy). The connection between leaving the gold standard and the severity and duration of the depression was consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This may explain why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.<ref>Bernanke, Ben (March 2, 2004), "Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke: Money, Gold and the Great Depression", At the H. Parker Willis Lecture in Economic Policy, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.</ref>

===Variations===
A ''full or 100%-reserve'' gold standard exists when the monetary authority holds sufficient gold to convert all the circulating representative money into gold at the promised exchange rate. It is sometimes referred to as the gold specie standard to more easily distinguish it. Opponents of a full standard consider it difficult to implement, saying that the quantity of gold in the world is too small to sustain worldwide economic activity at or near current gold prices; implementation would entail a many-fold increase in the price of gold.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} Gold standard proponents have said, "Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoppe|first=Hans-Herman|editor=Mark Skousen|title=Dissent on Keynes, A Critical Appraisal of Economics|url=https://mises.org/daily/2492#i2|year=1992|pages=199–223}}</ref> While prices would necessarily adjust to the supply of gold, the process may involve considerable economic disruption, as was experienced during earlier attempts to maintain gold standards.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq.aspx |title=Gold as Money: FAQ |work=Mises.org |publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute |accessdate=12 August 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714174608/http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq.aspx |archivedate=July 14, 2011 }}</ref>

In an ''international gold-standard system'' (which is necessarily based on an internal gold standard in the countries concerned),<ref>The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition (2008), Vol.3, S.695</ref> gold or a currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used to make international payments. Under such a system, when exchange rates rise above or fall below the fixed mint rate by more than the cost of shipping gold, inflows or outflows occur until rates return to the official level. International gold standards often limit which entities have the right to redeem currency for gold.

===Advantages===
* Long-term [[price stability]] has been described as one of the virtues of the gold standard.{{sfn|Bordo|2008}} The gold standard makes it difficult for governments to inflate prices through expanding the money supply. Under the gold standard, significant inflation is rare, and [[hyperinflation]] is essentially impossible because the money supply can only grow at the rate that the gold supply increases. High inflation under a gold standard is seen only when warfare destroys a large part of an economy, reducing the production of goods, or when a major new gold source becomes available.<ref name=mises>{{cite web |url=https://mises.org/books/goldstandard.pdf |title=Advantages of the Gold Standard |author= |work=The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School |publisher=The Ludwig von Mises Institute|accessdate=9 January 2011}}</ref> In the U.S., inflation occurred during the Civil War, which destroyed the economy of the South.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ransom |first=Roger L. |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/ransom.civil.war.us |title=The Economics of the Civil War |quote=the Union also experienced inflation as a result of deficit finance during the war; the consumer price index rose from 100 at the outset of the war to 175 by the end of 1865 |publisher=Economic History Association |date=February 1, 2010 |accessdate=December 24, 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213062917/http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/ransom.civil.war.us |archivedate=December 13, 2011 }}</ref> Inflation also followed the [[California Gold Rush]] that made large amounts of gold available for minting.<ref>{{cite web|last=Whaples |first=Robert |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/whaples.goldrush |title=California Gold Rush |quote=from 1792 until 1847 cumulative U.S. production of gold was only about 37 tons. California's production in 1849 alone exceeded this figure, and annual production from 1848 to 1857 averaged 76 tons. ... Soaring gold output from the California and Australia gold rushes is linked with a 30 percent increase in wholesale prices from 1850 through 1855 |publisher=Economic History Association |date=February 5, 2010 |accessdate=December 24, 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124161246/http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/whaples.goldrush |archivedate=November 24, 2011 }}</ref> Historical data shows that the magnitude of short run swings in prices were far higher under the gold standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ |title=Why the Gold Standard Is the World's Worst Economic Idea, in 2 Charts – Matthew O'Brien |publisher=The Atlantic |date=2012-08-26 |accessdate=2013-04-19}}</ref>{{sfn|Bordo|2008}}
* The gold standard provides fixed international exchange rates between participating countries and thus reduces uncertainty in international trade. Historically, imbalances between price levels were offset by a balance-of-payment adjustment mechanism called the "[[price–specie flow mechanism]]".<ref name=mises/> Gold used to pay for imports reduces the money supply of importing nations, causing deflation, which makes them more competitive, while the importation of gold by net exporters serves to increase their money supply, causing inflation, making them less competitive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/fsr/fs_paper13.pdf |title=Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System |publisher=Bank of England |quote=Countries with current account surpluses accumulated gold, while deficit countries saw their gold stocks diminish. This, in turn, contributed to upward pressure on domestic spending and prices in surplus countries and downward pressure on them in deficit countries, thereby leading to a change&nbsp;... that should, eventually, have reduced imbalances. |date=December 2011 |accessdate=December 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218105433/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/fsr/fs_paper13.pdf |archive-date=December 18, 2011 |dead-url=yes |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
* A gold standard does not allow some types of [[financial repression]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/06/reinhart.htm |title=Financial Repression Redux |quote=Financial repression occurs when governments implement policies to channel to themselves funds that in a deregulated market environment would go elsewhere |publisher=International Monetary Fund |date=June 2011 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> Financial repression acts as a mechanism to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, particularly the governments that practice it. Financial repression is most successful in reducing debt when accompanied by inflation and can be considered a form of [[taxation]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=This Time is Different |last=Reinhart |first=Carmen M. |last2=Rogoff |first2=Kenneth S. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2008 |page=143}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2117587|title = Government Revenue from Financial Repression|journal = The American Economic Review|volume = 83|issue = 4|pages = 953–963|last1 = Giovannini|first1 = Alberto|last2 = De Melo|first2 = Martha|year = 1993}}</ref> In 1966 [[Alan Greenspan]] wrote "[[Deficit spending]] is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm |title=Gold and Economic Freedom |first=Alan |last=Greenspan |publisher=Constitution.org |year=1966 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref>

===Disadvantages===
[[File:Gold-nominal-constant-usd.svg|thumb|323px|right|Gold prices (US$ per troy ounce) from 1914, in nominal US$ and inflation adjusted US$.]]
* The unequal distribution of gold deposits makes the gold standard more advantageous for those countries that produce gold.<ref>Goodman, George J.W., ''Paper Money'', 1981, p. 165–6</ref> In 2010 the largest producers of gold, in order, were China, Australia, U.S., South Africa and Russia.<ref>{{cite web|first=Liezel |last=Hill |url=http://www.miningweekly.com/article/gold-mine-output-hit-record-in-2010-more-gains-likely-this-year-gfms-2011-01-13 |title=Gold mine output hit record in 2010, more gains likely this year – GFMS |publisher=Mining Weekly |date=January 13, 2011 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> The country with the largest unmined gold deposits is Australia.<ref>{{cite web|title=GOLD|url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gold/mcs-2011-gold.pdf|work=U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior {{!}} U.S. Geological Survey|accessdate=10 July 2012|author=U.S. Geological Survey| date=January 2011 }}</ref>
* Some economists believe that the gold standard acts as a limit on economic growth. "As an economy's productive capacity grows, then so should its money supply. Because a gold standard requires that money be backed in the metal, then the scarcity of the metal constrains the ability of the economy to produce more capital and grow."<ref name=EverythingEc>Mayer, David A. {{Google books|id=YrbNSrIPmgYC}} The Everything Economics Book: From theory to practice, your complete guide to understanding economics today (Everything Series) {{ISBN|978-1-4405-0602-4}}. 2010. pp. 33–34.</ref>
* [[Mainstream economics|Mainstream economists]] believe that economic recessions can be largely mitigated by increasing the money supply during economic downturns.<ref name="Mankiw">{{Cite book|last=Mankiw |first=N. Gregory |title=Macroeconomics |publisher=Worth |year=2002 |edition=5th |pages=238–255|isbn=978-0-324-17190-7}}</ref> A gold standard means that the money supply would be determined by the gold supply and hence monetary policy could no longer be used to stabilize the economy.<ref name="Slate: Krugman ">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/1912/|title=The Gold Bug Variations|last=Krugman |first=Paul |publisher=Slate.com|accessdate=2009-02-13}}</ref> The gold standard is often blamed for prolonging the Great Depression, as under the gold standard, central banks could not expand credit at a fast enough rate to offset deflationary forces.<ref name="econjwatch.org">{{cite journal|last=Timberlake |first=Richard H. |year=2005 |title=Gold Standards and the Real Bills Doctrine in US Monetary Policy |journal=Econ Journal Watch |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=196–233 |url=http://econjwatch.org/issues/volume-2-issue-2-august-2005}}</ref>
* Although the gold standard brings long-run price stability, it is historically associated with high short-run price volatility.{{sfn|Bordo|2008}}{{sfn|Bordo|Dittmar|Gavin|2003}} It has been argued by Schwartz, among others, that instability in short-term price levels can lead to financial instability as lenders and borrowers become uncertain about the value of debt.{{sfn|Bordo|Dittmar|Gavin|2003}}
* Deflation punishes debtors.<ref>{{cite news|last=Keogh |first=Bryan |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=am.gkYZFlB0A |title=Real Rate Shock Hits CEOs as Borrowing Costs Impede Recovery |quote="Deflation hurts borrowers and rewards savers," said Drew Matus, senior economist at Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch in New York, in a telephone interview. "If you do borrow right now, and we go through a period of deflation, your cost of borrowing just went through the roof." |publisher=Bloomberg |date=May 13, 2009 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mauldin|first=John|title=Endgame: The End of the Debt SuperCycle and How It Changes Everything|publisher=John Wiley|location=Hoboken, N.J.|isbn=978-1-118-00457-9|url={{google books|id=amaQ6ZNBpYoC|p=135|plainurl=yes}}|author2=Tepper, Jonathan |date=2011-02-09}}</ref> Real debt burdens therefore rise, causing borrowers to cut spending to service their debts or to default. Lenders become wealthier, but may choose to save some of the additional wealth, reducing [[GDP]].<ref name="economist.com">{{cite news|title=The greater of two evils|url=http://www.economist.com/node/13610845|publisher=The Economist|accessdate=December 24, 2011|date=May 7, 2009}}</ref>
* The money supply would essentially be determined by the rate of gold production. When gold stocks increase more rapidly than the economy, there is inflation and the reverse is also true.{{sfn|Bordo|2008}}<ref name="BradDeLong">{{cite web|url=http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Politics/whynotthegoldstandard.html |title=Why Not the Gold Standard? |date=1996-08-10 |last=DeLong |first=Brad |authorlink=J. Bradford DeLong |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |accessdate=2008-09-25}}</ref> The consensus view is that the gold standard contributed to the severity and length of the Great Depression.<ref name=Warburton>{{Cite book|last=Warburton |first=Clark |title=Depression, Inflation, and Monetary Policy: Selected Papers, 1945–1953 |year=1966 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |location=[[Baltimore]] |oclc=736401 |pages=25–35 |chapter=The Monetary Disequilibrium Hypothesis}}</ref>{{sfn|Hamilton|2005}}
* Hamilton contended that the gold standard is susceptible to [[speculative attack]]s when a government's financial position appears weak. Conversely, this threat discourages governments from engaging in risky policy (see [[moral hazard]]). For example, the U.S. was forced to contract the money supply and raise interest rates in September 1931 to defend the dollar after speculators forced the UK off the gold standard.{{sfn|Hamilton|2005}}{{sfn|Hamilton|1988}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Great Depression |url=http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~cromer/great_depression.pdf |work=ELSA |publisher=University of California Regents |accessdate=10 July 2012 |author=Christina D. Romer |date=20 December 2003 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/63vrtG5bW?url=http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~cromer/great_depression.pdf |archivedate=14 December 2011 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200403022/default.htm |title=Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke |quote="In September 1931, following a period of financial upheaval in Europe that created concerns about British investments on the Continent, speculators attacked the British pound, presenting pounds to the Bank of England and demanding gold in return. ... Unable to continue supporting the pound at its official value, Great Britain was forced to leave the gold standard, ... With the collapse of the pound, speculators turned their attention to the U.S. dollar |publisher=The Federal Reserve Board |date=March 2, 2004 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref>
* Devaluing a currency under a gold standard would generally produce sharper changes than the smooth declines seen in fiat currencies, depending on the method of devaluation.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Megan |last=McArdle |authorlink=Megan McArdle |title=There's gold in them thar standards! |url=http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/theres_gold_in_them_thar_stand.php |work=[[The Atlantic Monthly]] |date=2007-09-04 |accessdate=2008-11-12}}</ref>
* Most economists favor a low, positive rate of inflation of around 2%. This reflects fear of deflationary shocks and the belief that active monetary policy can dampen fluctuations in output and unemployment. Inflation gives them room to tighten policy without inducing deflation.<ref name="econjournalwatch.org">Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. "Death and Taxes, Including Inflation: the Public versus Economists" (January 2007).[http://econjwatch.org/articles/death-and-taxes-including-inflation-the-public-versus-economists] p.56</ref>
* A gold standard provides practical constraints against the measures that central banks might otherwise use to respond to economic crises.<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Asli |last=Demirgüç-Kunt |author2=Enrica Detragiache |date=April 2005 |title=Cross-Country Empirical Studies of Systemic Bank Distress: A Survey |journal=[[National Institute Economic Review]] |volume=192 |issue=1 |pages=68–83 |doi=10.1177/002795010519200108 |url=http://ner.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/192/1/68 |accessdate=2008-11-12 |oclc=90233776 |issn=0027-9501}}</ref> Creation of new money reduces interest rates and thereby increases demand for new lower cost debt, raising the demand for money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.econ.washington.edu/user/cnelson/Chap07.pdf |title=the quantity of money supplied by the Fed must be equal to the quantity demanded by money holders |accessdate=2012-07-09 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616230152/http://www.econ.washington.edu/user/cnelson/Chap07.pdf |archivedate=June 16, 2012 }}</ref>

==Advocates==
A return to the gold standard was considered by the US Gold Commission back in 1982, but found only minority support.<ref name="Paul">{{Cite book|first=Ron |last=Paul |authorlink=Ron Paul |author2=[[Lewis Lehrman]]  |title=The case for gold: a minority report of the U.S. Gold Commission |url=https://www.mises.org/books/caseforgold.pdf |accessdate=2008-11-12 |publisher=[[Cato Institute]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |year=1982 |page=160 |isbn=978-0-932790-31-6 |oclc=8763972}}</ref> In 2001 [[Malaysian Prime Minister]] [[Mahathir bin Mohamad]] proposed a new currency that would be used initially for international trade among Muslim nations, using a [[Modern gold dinar|Modern Islamic gold dinar]], defined as 4.25&nbsp;grams of pure (24-[[carat (purity)|carat]]) gold. Mahathir claimed it would be a stable unit of account and a political symbol of unity between Islamic nations.  This would purportedly reduce dependence on the US dollar and establish a non-debt-backed currency in accord with [[Sharia law]] that prohibited the charging of interest.<ref>{{cite web |first=Muhammad |last=al-'Amraawi |author2=Al-Khammar al-Baqqaali |author3=Ahmad Saabir |author4=Al-Hussayn ibn Haashim |author5=Abu Sayf Kharkhaash |author6=Mubarak Sa'doun al-Mutawwa' |author7=Malik Abu Hamza Sezgin |author8=Abdassamad Clarke |author9=Asadullah Yate |url=http://www.islamidag.dk/ulamaongold.html |title=Declaration of 'Ulama on the Gold Dinar |accessdate=2008-11-14 |publisher=Islam i Dag |date=2001-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624073052/http://www.islamidag.dk/ulamaongold.html |archive-date=2008-06-24 |dead-url=yes |df= }}</ref> {{As of |2013}} the global monetary system continued to rely on the US dollar as the main [[reserve currency]].<ref>{{cite web|last=McGregor |first=Richard |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae01a8f6-21b7-11e0-9e3b-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1CttyOPaR |title=Richard McGregor:Hu questions future role of US dollar. Financial Times, January 16, 2011 |publisher=Financial Times |date=2011-01-16 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref>

Former [[U.S. Federal Reserve]] Chairman, Alan Greenspan acknowledged he was one of "a small minority" within the central bank that had some positive view on the gold standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/scribd/?item_id=22429&filepath=/docs/historical/house/cmp/1990s/CMP_105HR_07221998.pdf&start_page=27|title=Conduct of Monetary Policy: Report of the Federal Reserve Board Pursuant to the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, P.L. 95-523 and The State of the Economy : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy of the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, July 22, 1998 - FRASER - St. Louis Fed|publisher=}}</ref> In a 1966 essay he contributed to a book by [[Ayn Rand]], titled "Gold and Economic Freedom", Greenspan argued the case for returning to a 'pure' gold standard; in that essay he described supporters of fiat currencies as "welfare statists" intending to use monetary policy to finance deficit spending.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenspan |first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Greenspan |date=July 1966 |title=Gold and Economic Freedom |journal=[[The Objectivist]] |volume=5 |issue=7 |url=http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm |accessdate=2008-10-16}}</ref> More recently he claimed that by focusing on targeting inflation "central bankers have behaved as though we were on the gold standard", rendering a return to the standard unnecessary.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paul |first=Ron |title=End the Fed |page=xxiii }}</ref>

Similarly, economists like [[Robert Barro]] argued that whilst some form of "monetary constitution"  is essential for stable, depoliticized monetary policy, the form this constitution takes—for example, a gold standard, some other commodity-based standard, or a fiat currency with fixed rules for determining the quantity of money—is considerably less important.{{sfn|Salerno|1982}}

The gold standard is supported by many followers of the [[Austrian School of Economics]], free-market [[Libertarianism|libertarians]] and some [[supply-side economics|supply-siders]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/blog/time-think-about-gold-standard|title=Time to Think about the Gold Standard?|last=Boaz|first=David|date=2009-03-12|website=Cato Institute|publisher=|accessdate=2018-05-05}}</ref>

===US politics===
In the United States, strict constitutionalists object to the government issuing fiat currency through central banks. Some gold-standard advocates also call for a mandated end to [[fractional-reserve banking]]. Many similar alternatives have been suggested, including energy-based currencies, collections of currencies or commodities, with gold as one component.

Former congressman [[Ron Paul]] is a long-term, high-profile advocate of a gold standard, but has also expressed support for using a standard based on a basket of commodities that better reflects the state of the economy.<ref>Channel: CNBC. Show: Squawk Box. Date: 11/13/2009. Interview with Ron Paul</ref>

In 2011 the [[Utah]] legislature passed a bill to accept federally issued gold and silver coins as legal tender to pay taxes.<ref>{{cite news|last=Clark |first=Stephen |url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/03/utah-considers-return-gold-silver-coins/ |title=Utah Considers Return to Gold, Silver Coins |publisher=Fox News |date=March 3, 2011 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}</ref> As federally issued currency, the coins were already legal tender for taxes, although the market price of their metal content currently exceeds their monetary value. Similar legislation is under consideration in other US states.<ref>{{cite news|last=CNN|title=Utah: Forget dollars. How about gold?|url=http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/29/news/economy/utah_gold_currency/index.htm | date=2011-03-29}}</ref> The bill was initiated by newly elected [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] [[legislator]]s associated with the [[Tea Party movement]] and was driven by anxiety over the policies of President [[Barack Obama]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/8391504/Tea-Party-legislation-reveals-anxiety-at-US-direction-under-Barack-Obama.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Alex | last=Spillius | title=Tea Party legislation reveals anxiety at US direction under Barack Obama | date=2011-03-18}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[Arizona Legislature]] passed SB 1439, which would have made gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debt, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor.<ref>http://www.azleg.gov/govlettr/51leg/1R/SB1439.pdf</ref>

In 2015, some candidates for the 2016 presidential election advocated for a gold standard, based on concern that the [[Federal Reserve]]’s attempts to increase economic growth may create inflation. Economic historians did not agree with candidate's assertions that the gold standard would benefit the US economy.<ref>{{Cite news|title = The Good Old Days of the Gold Standard? Not Really, Historians Say|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/business/economy/the-good-old-days-of-the-gold-standard-not-really-historians-say.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2015-12-01|access-date = 2015-12-02|issn = 0362-4331|first = Binyamin|last = Appelbaum}}</ref>

==Critics==

In 2012 a poll of 40 U.S. economists in the IGM Economic Experts Panel found that none of them believed returning to the gold standard would result in "price-stability and employment outcomes [that] would be better for the average American." The panel of polled economists included past Nobel Prize winners, former economic advisers to both Republican and Democratic presidents, and senior faculty from Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, MIT, and other well-known research universities. The specific statement with which the economists were asked to agree or disagree was as follows: "If the US replaced its discretionary monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a 'dollar' as a specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment outcomes would be better for the average American."<ref name=":0">{{cite web | url = http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cw1nNUYOXSAKwrq | title = Gold Standard | date = 12 January 2012 | publisher = [[IGM Forum]] | access-date = 27 December 2015}}</ref>

The economist [[Allan H. Meltzer]] of [[Carnegie Mellon University]] presented arguments against [[Ron Paul]]'s advocacy of the gold standard from the 1970s onward.  He sometimes summarized his opposition by stating simply, "[W]e don’t have the gold standard. It’s not because we don’t know about the gold standard, it’s because we do."<ref>{{cite magazine | last = Bowyer | first = Jerry | date = 23 October 2013 | title = My Friendly Debate On The Gold Standard With Allan Meltzer, The World's Leading Monetarist | url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybowyer/2013/10/23/my-friendly-debate-on-the-gold-standard-with-allan-meltzer-the-worlds-leading-monetarist/ | magazine = Forbes / Contributor Opinions | access-date= 27 December 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Numismatics}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[A Program for Monetary Reform#The Gold Standard|''A Program for Monetary Reform'' (1939) – The Gold Standard]]
* [[Bimetallism]]/[[Free Silver]]
* [[Black Friday (1869)]] -- Also referred to as the ''Gold Panic of 1869''
* [[Coinage Act of 1792]]
* [[Coinage Act of 1873]]
* [[Executive Order 6102]]
* [[Full-reserve banking]]
* [[Gold as an investment]]
* [[Gold points]]
* [[Metal as money]]
* [[Metallism]]
}}

===International institutions===
* [[Bank for International Settlements]]
* [[International Monetary Fund]]
* [[United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference]]
* [[World Bank]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
* {{cite web| last = Bordo| first = Michael D.|first2=Robert D. |last2=Dittmar |first3=William T. |last3=Gavin | title = Gold, Fiat Money and Price Stability| work = Working Paper Series| publisher = Research Division – [[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis]]| url = http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2003/2003-014.pdf| doi =|ref=harv|date=June 2003 |accessdate=December 24, 2011}}
* Cassel, Gustav. The Downfall of the Gold Standard. Oxford University Press, 1936.
* Drummond, Ian M. The Gold Standard and the International Monetary System 1900–1939. Macmillan Education, LTD, 1987.
* {{Cite book|first=Barry J. |last=Eichengreen |authorlink=Barry Eichengreen |title=Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[New York City]] |year=1995 |pages= |isbn=978-0-19-510113-3|oclc=34383450 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Elwell |first=Craig K. |title=Brief History of the Gold Standard in the United States | year=2011 |url={{google books|id=ztHyT2ew3QUC|plainurl=yes}} |publisher=Congressional Research Service |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|url={{Google books|id=Q7J_EUM3RfoC|plainurl=yes}}|title=A Monetary History of the US 1867–1960 |last1=Friedman |first1=Milton |last2=Schwartz |first2= Anna Jacobson |page= 543 |publisher= Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-04147-6 |year=1963 |accessdate=2012-07-09 |ref=harv}}
* {{Cite journal|first=James D. |last=Hamilton |authorlink=James D. Hamilton |date=April 1988 |title=Role of the International Gold Standard in Propagating the Great Depression|journal=[[Contemporary Economic Policy]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=67–89 |doi=10.1111/j.1465-7287.1988.tb00286.x|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120017201/abstract |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105094836/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120017201/abstract |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2013-01-05 |accessdate=2008-11-12|ref=harv}}
* {{Cite book|title=An introduction to positive economics|edition=fourth|pages=683–702|first=Richard G.|last=Lipsey|year=1975|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|isbn=978-0-297-76899-9 |ref=harv}}
* Officer, Lawrence. "Gold Standard." 1 February 2010. EH.net. 13 April 2013.

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|first=Richard Franklin |last=Bensel |authorlink=Richard Bensel |title=The political economy of American industrialization, 1877–1900 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=978-0-521-77604-2 |oclc=43552761}}
* {{Cite book|first=Barry J. |last=Eichengreen |authorlink=Barry Eichengreen |author2=Marc Flandreau |title=The gold standard in theory and history |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=[[New York City]] |year=1997 |pages= |isbn=978-0-415-15061-3 |oclc=37743323}}
* {{Cite book|first=Michael D. |last=Bordo |authorlink=Michael D. Bordo|title=Gold standard and related regimes: collected essays |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |year=1999 |pages= |isbn=978-0-521-55006-2 |oclc=59422152}}
* {{Cite book|first=Michael D |last=Bordo |author2=[[Anna Schwartz|Anna Jacobson Schwartz]] |author3=[[National Bureau of Economic Research]] |title=A Retrospective on the classical gold standard, 1821–1931 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago]] |year=1984 |pages= |isbn=978-0-226-06590-8 |oclc=10559587}}
* Coletta, Paolo E. [https://archive.org/details/63ColettaGreenbackers "Greenbackers, Goldbugs, and Silverites: Currency Reform and Politics, 1860-1897,”] in H. Wayne Morgan (ed.), The Gilded Age: A Reappraisal. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1963; pp.&nbsp;111–139.
* {{Cite book|first=Lawrence H. |last=Officer |title=Between the Dollar-Sterling Gold Points: Exchange Rates, Parity and Market Behavior |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Chicago]] |year=2007 |pages= |isbn=978-0-521-03821-8 |oclc=124025586}}
* {{Cite book|first=Luca |last=Einaudi |title=Money and politics: European monetary unification and the international gold standard (1865–1873) |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=2001 |pages= |isbn=978-0-19-924366-2 |oclc=45556225}}
* {{Cite journal|first=Mark A |last=Roberts |date=March 1995 |title=Keynes, the Liquidity Trap and the Gold Standard: A Possible Application of the Rational Expectations Hypothesis |journal=The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=82–92 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9957.1995.tb00270.x }}
* {{Cite book|first=Earl A. |last=Thompson |author2=Charles Robert Hickson |title=Ideology and the evolution of vital institutions: guilds, the gold standard, and modern international cooperation |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7923-7390-2 |oclc=46836861 |publisher=Kluwer Acad. Publ. |location=Boston}}
* {{Cite book|first=Sidney |last=Pollard |title=The gold standard and employment policies between the Wars |publisher=Methuen |location=[[London]] |year=1970 |pages= |isbn=978-0-416-14250-1 |oclc=137456}}
* {{Cite book|first=Hugh Henry |last=Hanna |author2=[[Charles Arthur Conant]] |author3=[[Jeremiah Jenks]] |title=Stability of international exchange: Report on the introduction of the gold-exchange standard into China and other silver-using countries |year=1903 |oclc=6671835}}
* {{Cite book|title=Banking in modern Japan |publisher=[[Fuji Bank]] |location=[[Tokyo]] |year=1967 |pages= |oclc=254964565 |isbn=978-0-333-71139-2}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |first=Lawrence H. |last=Officer |editor=[[Steven N. Durlauf]] and [[Lawrence E. Blume]] |title=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |encyclopedia=[[The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition]] |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=[[Basingstoke]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-333-78676-5 |oclc=181424188 |chapter-url=http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_B000137&goto=bimetalism&result_number=140 |accessdate=2008-11-13 |doi=10.1057/9780230226203.0136 |chapter=bimetallism |page=488}}
* {{Cite book|first=Ian M. |last=Drummond |author2=[[The Economic History Society]]  |title=The gold standard and the international monetary system 1900–1939 |publisher=Macmillan Education |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |year=1987 |pages= |isbn=978-0-333-37208-1 |oclc=18324084}}
* {{Cite book|first=Ralph George |last=Hawtrey |authorlink=Ralph George Hawtrey |title=The Gold Standard in theory and practice |year=1927 |publisher=[[Longman]] |location=[[London]] |oclc=250855462 |isbn=978-0-313-22104-0}}
* {{Cite book|first=Marc |last=Flandreau |title=The glitter of gold: France, bimetallism, and the emergence of the international gold standard, 1848–1873 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=2004 |pages= |isbn=978-0-19-925786-7 |oclc=54826941}}
* {{Cite book|first=John |last=Lalor |title=Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy and the Political History of the United States |publisher=Thoemmes Continuum |location=London |origyear=1881 |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=978-1-84371-093-6 |oclc=52565505}}
* {{Cite journal |first=Ben |last=Bernanke |authorlink=Ben Bernanke |author2=Harold James |date=October 1990 |title=The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 3488 |doi=10.3386/w3488 }}  Also published as: {{Cite book|first=Ben |last=Bernanke |authorlink=Ben Bernanke |author2=Harold James |chapter=The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison |chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEfUi2H4cqwC&printsec=frontcover&cad=0#PRA1-PA33,M1 |editor=R. Glenn Hubbard |title=Financial markets and financial crises |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago]] |year=1991 |pages=33–68 |isbn=978-0-226-35588-7 |oclc=231281602 |editor-link=Glenn Hubbard (economics)}}
* {{Cite book|first=Murray Newton |last=Rothbard |authorlink=Murray Rothbard |chapter=The World Currency Crisis |chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=elPzEDHG9ysC&printsec=frontcover&cad=0#PRA2-PA295,M1 |title=Making Economic Sense |publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] |location=[[Burlingame, California]] |year=2006 |pages=295–299 |isbn=978-0-945466-46-8 |oclc=78624652}}
* {{Cite book|first=Gustav |last=Cassel |authorlink=Gustav Cassel |title=The downfall of the gold standard |year=1936 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=[[Oxford]] |oclc=237252}}
* {{Cite book|first=Jorge |last=Braga de Macedo |author2=Barry J. Eichengreen |author3=Jaime Reis |title=Currency convertibility: the gold standard and beyond |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=[[New York City]] |year=1996 |pages= |isbn=978-0-415-14057-7 |oclc=33132906}}
* {{Cite book|first=William H. |last=Russell |authorlink=William Huntington Russell |title=The Deceit of the Gold Standard and of Gold Monetization |year=1982 |publisher=American Classical College Press |isbn=978-0-89266-324-8}}
* {{Cite book|first=Wesley C. |last=Mitchell |authorlink=Wesley Clair Mitchell |title=Gold, prices, and wages under the greenback standard |year=1908 |publisher=The University Press |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |oclc=1088693}}
* {{Cite book|first=Kenneth |last=Mouré |title=The gold standard illusion: France, the Bank of France, and the International Gold Standard, 1914–1939 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=2002 |pages= |isbn=978-0-19-924904-6 |oclc=48544538}}
* {{Cite book|first=Tamim A. |last=Bayoumi |author2=[[Barry Eichengreen|Barry J. Eichengreen]] and Mark P. Taylor |title=Modern perspectives on the gold standard |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |year=1996 |pages= |isbn=978-0-521-57169-2 |oclc=34245103}}
* {{Cite book|first=John Maynard |last=Keynes |authorlink=John Maynard Keynes |title=The economic consequences of Mr. Churchill |year=1925 |publisher=[[Hogarth Press]] |location=[[London]] |oclc=243857880}}
* {{Cite book|first=John Maynard |last=Keynes |authorlink=John Maynard Keynes |title=A treatise on money in two volumes |year=1930 |publisher=MacMillan |location=[[London]] |oclc=152413612}}
* {{Cite book|first=J. Peter |last=Ferderer |title=Credibility of the interwar gold standard, uncertainty, and the Great Depression |year=1994 |publisher=Jerome Levy Economics Institute |location=[[Annandale-on-Hudson, New York]] |oclc=31141890}}
* {{Cite book|first=Pablo Martín |last=Aceña |author2=Jaime Reis |title=Monetary standards in the periphery: paper, silver and gold, 1854–1933 |publisher=Macmillan Press |location=[[London]] |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=978-0-333-67020-0 |oclc=247963508}}
* {{Cite book|first=Giulio M. |last=Gallarotti |title=The anatomy of an international monetary regime: the classical gold standard, 1880–1914 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=1995 |pages= |isbn=978-0-19-508990-5 |oclc=30511110}}
* {{Cite book|first=Trevor J. O. |last=Dick |author2=[[John E. Floyd]]  |title=Canada and the Gold Standard: Balance of Payments Adjustment Under Fixed Exchange Rates, 1871–1913 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-61706-2 |oclc=59135525}}
* {{Cite book|first=A.G. |last=Kenwood |author2=A. L. Lougheed |title=The growth of the international economy 1820–1990 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=[[London]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-91-44-00079-4}}
* {{Cite book|first=Richard |last=Hofstadter |authorlink=Richard Hofstadter |title=The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays |chapter=Free Silver and the Mind of "Coin" Harvey |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=[[Harvard]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-674-65461-7 |oclc=34772674}}
* {{Cite book|first=Nathan K. |last=Lewis |title=Gold: The Once and Future Money |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=2006 |pages= |isbn=978-0-470-04766-8 |oclc=87151964}}
* {{Cite book|first=Hartley |last=Withers |title=War-Time Financial Problems |year=1919 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13045 |accessdate=2008-11-14 |publisher=[[John Murray (publisher)|J. Murray]] |location=[[London]] |oclc=2458983}}
* {{Cite book|first=Mark |last=Metzler |title=Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan.  |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |year=2006 |page=[http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1166] |isbn=978-0-520-24420-7}}
* {{Cite book|first=David |last=Pietrusza |title='It Shines for All': The Gold Standard Editorials of The New York Sun  |publisher=[[New York Sun Books]] |location=[[New York City, New York]] |year=2011 |isbn= 978-1-4611-5612-3}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|EN_Gold_Standard.ogg|2007-12-04}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091121143147/http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/faq/faq_docs/gold_standard.shtml What is The Gold Standard?] University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090227082057/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history/ History of the Bank of England] Bank of England
* [http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6A71J120101108 Timeline: Gold's history as a currency standard]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold Standard}}
[[Category:Gold standard| ]]
[[Category:Gold]]
[[Category:Economic history of Japan]]
[[Category:Economic history of the United States]]
[[Category:History of banking]]
[[Category:History of international trade]]
[[Category:Monetary policy]]