Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary HistoryThe Nobel Prize–winning economist explains how value is created, and how that affects everything from your paycheck to global markets. In this “lively, enlightening introduction to monetary history” (Kirkus Reviews), one of the leading figures of the Chicago school of economics that rejected the theories of John Maynard Keynes offers a journey through history to illustrate the importance of understanding monetary economics, and how monetary theory can ignite or deepen inflation. With anecdotes revealing the far-reaching consequences of seemingly minor events—for example, how two obscure Scottish chemists destroyed the presidential prospects of William Jennings Bryan, and how FDR’s domestic politics helped communism triumph in China—as well as plain-English explanations of what the monetary system in the United States means for your personal finances and for everyone from the small business owner on Main Street to the banker on Wall Street, Money Mischief is an enlightening read from the author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, who was called “the most influential economist of the second half of the twentieth century” by the Economist. |
Contents
3 | |
8 | |
3 The Crime of 1873 | 51 |
Estimating the Effect of Continuing Bimetallism after 1873 | 80 |
5 William Jennings Bryan and the Cyanide Process | 104 |
6 Bimetallism Revisited | 126 |
7 FDR Silver and China | 157 |
8 The Cause and Cure of Inflation | 189 |
Identical Policies Opposite Outcomes | 234 |
10 Monetary Policy in a Fiat World | 249 |
11 An Epilogue | 261 |
266 | |
Back Cover | 287 |
Spine | 288 |
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Common terms and phrases
actual adoption amount assets average bimetal bimetallic standard Britain Bryan cash balances central bank century chapter Chile China Coinage Act coins commodity cost countries decline deflation demand for silver demonetization economic episode equation estimate example exchange rate exports Federal Reserve Federal Reserve System fiat fiat money France free coinage free-silver Friedman and Schwartz gold and silver gold standard gold-silver price ratio government spending greenback higher Hong Kong dollar hyperinflation increase inflation interest rates JAMES LAURENCE LAUGHLIN Japan legal ratio less major market price market ratio ment metal monetary growth monetary system monometallism nonmonetary output paper money pegged percent period political price index price level price of gold price of silver produced quantity of money rate of inflation rate of monetary real income real price reserve ratio result resumption rise seignorage silver purchase program silver standard specie tion Treasury U.S. dollar U.S. silver United