Why was getting off the gold standard good?

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From my understanding, remove from the gold standard just allows government to arbitrarily make up the value of the now fiat currency, which is why we now struggle with inflation and soaring debt.

It seems obvious that you’d want your dollar to theoretically be fixed to another medium with a readily appraisable value simply to maintain stability and prevent government corruption through manipulation of the monetary supply.

But then again, I’m no economist.

In: Economics

18 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The inflation is certainly a drawback, a disadvantage. However, we gained some other great advantages, including not limiting the size of our economies to how much gold there is in the world. Even accounting for inflation, the world’s economy has increased quite a bit because of increased gsp multiplyers and fiat currency.

Suddenly, one nation getting richer doesn’t have to be because it took more materials from another anymore, it’s not a 0-sum game anymore. The same thing happens within a nation, suddenly one portion of society can increase their standard of living without taking away from another.

Obviously, that’s a gross oversimplification. There mare also other advantages, but I don’t understand them as well as this one. There are also some drawbacks, such as how much easier it is to confuse a series of bubbles for real growth.

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