Gold standard

A gold standard is a <a href="/facts/Backed_currency/GGqnLHJN">monetary system</a> in which the standard <a href="/facts/Economics/HYctA2Dn">economic</a> <a href="/facts/Unit_of_account/PFbrK8FM">unit of account</a> is based on a fixed quantity of <a href="/facts/Gold/1znknojp">gold</a>. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated <a href="/facts/Convertibility/lMSXL3XX">convertibility</a> of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the <a href="/facts/Bretton_Woods_system/cQWyMgkC">Bretton Woods system</a>. Many states nonetheless hold substantial <a href="/facts/Gold_reserve/Sbl9IIDI">gold reserves</a>.
Historically, the <a href="/facts/Silver_standard/KRKpt0HR">silver standard</a> and <a href="/facts/Bimetallism/XUVFXtqq">bimetallism</a> have been more common than the gold standard. The shift to an international monetary system based on a gold standard reflected accident, <a href="/facts/Network_externalities/IvxIDA2d">network externalities</a>, and <a href="/facts/Path_dependence/WQyxIdrC">path dependence</a>. Great Britain accidentally adopted a de facto gold standard in 1717 when <a href="/facts/Isaac_Newton/4L7gTncN">Isaac Newton</a>, then-master of the <a href="/facts/Royal_Mint/GF1D247S">Royal Mint</a>, set the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thus causing silver coins to go out of circulation. As Great Britain became the world's leading financial and <a href="/facts/Commercial_power/NC8dxKGJ">commercial power</a> in the 19th century, other states increasingly adopted Britain's monetary system.
The gold standard was largely abandoned during the <a href="/facts/Great_Depression/5K13wcg0">Great Depression</a> before being reinstated in a limited form as part of the post-<a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> <a href="/facts/Bretton_Woods_system/cQWyMgkC">Bretton Woods system</a>. The gold standard was abandoned due to its propensity for volatility, as well as the constraints it imposed on governments: by retaining a <a href="/facts/Fixed_exchange_rate/uWJj4lmH">fixed exchange rate</a>, governments were hamstrung in engaging in <a href="/facts/Expansionary_policies/LXehzvG0">expansionary policies</a> to, for example, reduce unemployment during economic <a href="/facts/Recession/ncYpUqmr">recessions</a>.
According to a 2012 survey of 39 economists, the vast majority (92 percent) agreed that a return to the gold standard would not improve price-stability and employment outcomes, and two-thirds of economic historians surveyed in the mid-1990s rejected the idea that the gold standard "was effective in stabilizing prices and moderating business-cycle fluctuations during the nineteenth century." The consensus view among economists is that the gold standard helped prolong and deepen the <a href="/facts/Great_Depression/5K13wcg0">Great Depression</a>. Historically, <a href="/facts/Banking_crisis/ysIyqHkp">banking crises</a> were more common during periods under the gold standard while <a href="/facts/Currency_crisis/E2CfwXsJ">currency crises</a> were less common. According to economist <a href="/facts/Michael_D._Bordo/tGnB4yKd">Michael D. Bordo</a>, the gold standard has three benefits that made its use popular during certain historical periods: "its record as a stable nominal anchor; its automaticity; and its role as a credible commitment mechanism." The gold standard is supported by many followers of the <a href="/facts/Austrian_School/y2qvtPD7">Austrian School</a>, <a href="/facts/Libertarianism_in_the_United_States/rpdKURre">free-market libertarians</a>, and some <a href="/facts/Supply-side_economics/zDcJR0nv">supply-siders</a>.

Gold standard open-in-new

Gold standard