What Has Government Done to Our Money?
By Murray N. Rothbard
“This is a new edition of Rothbard’s classic little work on the nature and function of money.”
This is a new edition of Rothbard’s classic little work on the nature and function of money. Rothbard analyzes the origin of money, its function in a free market and then moves on to examine the effects of government intervention in the money supply: inflation, depression and monetary chaos.
But while much of this is already familiar to BFL’s readers, the significant portion of this new edition is the addition of a new section entitled “The Monetary Breakdown of the West.” In this valuable section, Rothbard now examines the concrete consequences of government intervention. Surveying the current world monetary scene, Rothbard states that “the chickens of the monetary interventionists have come home to roost. The world monetary crisis of February-March 1973, followed by the dollar plunge of July, was only the latest of an accelerating series of crises which provide a virtual textbook illustration of our analysis of the inevitable consequences of government intervention in the monetary system.”
Rothbard then moves on to examine the world monetary crisis in its full historical context. He discusses: “Phase I: The Classical Gold Standard, 1815-1914”—“Phase II: World War I and After”—“Phase III: The Gold Exchange Standard (Britain and the U.S.) 1926-1931”—“Phase IV: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, 1931-1945”—“Phase V: Bretton Woods and the New Gold Exchange Standard (the U.S.), 1945-1968”—“Phase VI: The Un-raveling of Bretton Woods, 1968-1971”—“Phase VII: The End of Bretton Woods: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, August-December, 1971”—“Phase VIII: The Smithsonian Agreement, December 1971-February 1973”—and “Phase IX: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, March 1973—?”
As is usual, Rothbard’s prose style is sparklingly clear and to the point. And, as usual, Rothbard has performed an invaluable service by sum-marizing not only his vast economic knowledge of the nature of money, but also the history of our monetary problems as well.
Reviewed by R. A. Childs, Jr.. / Economics (62 pages) / BFL Price $2