FRBNY Liberty Street Economics Blog — Crisis Chronicles

FRBNY Liberty Street Economics Blog — Crisis Chronicles

Crisis Chronicles: The Panic of 1819—America’s First Great Economic Crisis

Crisis Chronicles: The Panic of 1825 and the Most Fantastic Financial Swindle of All Time

Crisis Chronicles: The Man on the Twenty-Dollar Bill and the Panic of 1837

Crisis Chronicles–The California Gold Rush and the Gold Standard

Crisis Chronicles: Railway Mania, the Hungry Forties, and the Commercial Crisis of 1847

Crisis Chronicles: Defensive Suspension and the Panic of 1857

Crisis Chronicles: The Cotton Famine of 1862-63 and the U.S. One-Dollar Note

Crisis Chronicles: The Gold Panic of 1869, America’s First Black Friday

Crisis Chronicles: Gold, Deflation, and the Panic of 1893 Liberty Street Economics

The Final Crisis Chronicle: The Panic of 1907 and the Birth of the Fed Liberty Street Economics

James Hamilton — "Why not abolish the Fed and return to the gold standard?"

James Hamilton recites the facts and figures and provides charts showing that the gold standard doesn't ensure either financial stability or price stability, as gold bugs advertise it does. Gold is deflationary and favors creditors. In economic downturns it results in debt deflation and depression.

See it at Econobrowser
Why not abolish the Fed and return to the gold standard?
by James Hamilton

I recommend reading Pennies from heaven: How Mormon economics shape the G.O.P by Chris Lehmann (Harper's Magazine, Oct 2001) in conjunction with this. Explains a lot of what otherwise may seem somewhat mysterious. Combine Mormon economics with Murray Rothbard's Libertarian Austrian economics and traditional fiscal conservatism, and one sees how contemporary GOP economics is constructed. It's just about the opposite of MMT.