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WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT DONE TO OUR MONEY?

Murray Rothbard

 

Mises Institute, Auburn, Al., 2015, 116 pgs., index, paperback

 
 

Reviewer comment:

The late author is considered a follower of the Austrian School of economic theorists following Ludwig von Mises and Friedreich Hayek. I am not so sure, having studied those leaders. But Rothbard certainly is prolific in his publications. He is also very polemic in his style, something his predecessors were not. The very title of this booklet indicates his thinking. He despises government (especially big government) and considers money to be 'our' money. His theories about the origin and development of money are very controversial. But they are the basis for his theories developed in many other books. I will attempt to review those I list here and try to show their interrelationships. And I give links to several other books on money or banking

 
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Rothbard, Murray - Anatomy of the State

 
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Rothbard, Murray - The Mystery of Banking

 
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Rothbard, Murray - A History of Money and Banking in the United States

 
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Rothbard, Murray - Economic Thought Before Adam Smith - Vol 1 of An Austrian perspective on the History of Economic Thought

 
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Rothbard, Murray - Classical Economics - Vol., II of An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought

 
 

Chapter I - Introduction

 
 

Chapter II - Money in a free Society?
1. The Value of Exchange
2. Barter
3. Indirect Exchange
4. Benefits of Money
5. The Monetary Unit
6. The Shape of Money
7. Private Coinage
8. The "Proper" Supply of Money
9. The Problem of "Hoarding"
10. Stabilize the Price Levels?
11. Coexisting Moneys
12. Money Warehouses
12. Summary

 
 

Chapter III - Government Meddling with Money
1. The Revenue of Government
2. The Economic Effects of Inflation
3. Compulsory Monopoly of the Mint
4. Debasement
5. Gresham's Law and Coinage
6. Summary: Government and Coinage
7. Permitting Banks to Refuse Payment
8. Central Banking: Removing the Checks on Inflation
9. Central Banking: Directing the Inflation
10. Going Off the Gold Standard
11. Fiat Money and the Gold Problem
12. Fiat Money and Gresham's Law
13. Government and Money

 
 

Chapter IV - The Monetary Breakdown of the West
1. Phase I: The Classical Gold Standard 1815 - 1914
2. Phase II: World War I and After
3. Phase III: The Gold Exchange Standard (Britian and the U.S. 1926-1931
4. Phase IV: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, 1931 - 1945
5. Phase V: Bretton Woods and the New Gold Exchange Standard (the United States) 1945 - 1968
6. Phase VI: The Unraveling of Bretton Woods, 1968-1971
7. Phase VII: The End of Breton Woods: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, August - December 1971
8. Phase VIII: The Smithsonian Agreement, December 1971 - Feb. 1973
9. Phase IX: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, March 1973 - ??

 
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Reden, Sitta von - Money in Classical Antiquity

 
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Podany, Amanda H. - Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization

 
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Wray, L. Randall - Modern Money Theory

 
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White, Lawrence H. - The Theory of Monetary Institutions

 
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Ingham, Geoffrey - The Nature of Money

 
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White, Lawrence - The Clash of Economic Ideas

 
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Graeber, David - Debt: The First 5,000 Years

 
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Landes, David - Joel Mokyr & William Baumol - The Invention of Enterprise

 
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