Explore the inevitable collapse of the fiat monetary system Paper Money Collapse: The Folly of Elastic Money, Second Edition challenges the mainstream consensus on money and monetary policy. While it is today generally believed that the transition from 'hard' and inflexible commodity money (such as a gold standard) to entirely flexible and potentially unlimited fiat money under national central banks allows for superior economic stability, Paper Money Collapse shows that the opposite is true. Systems of highly elastic and constantly expanding money are not only unnecessary, even for growing economies, they are always extremely destabilizing. Over time, they must lead to substantial imbalances, including excessive levels of debt and distorted asset prices, that will require ever faster money production to sustain. Ultimately, however, there is no alternative to a complete liquidation of these distortions. Based on insights of many renowned economists and in particular of the Austrian School of Economics, the book explains through rigorous logic and in precise language why our system of flexible fiat money is incompatible with a market economy and therefore unsustainable. Paper money systems have always led to economic disintegration--without exception--throughout history. It will not be different for our system and we may be closer to the endgame than many think. The updated second edition incorporates: A new introduction and an extended outlook section that discusses various "endgames" Responses to criticisms, alternative views, and a critical assessment of 'solutions' Comments on recent policy trends, including attempts to exit the 'easy money' policy mode An evaluation of new crypto-currency Bitcoin Paper Money Collapse: The Folly of Elastic Money, Second Edition clarifies the problem of paper money clearly and eloquently, and proposes multiple routes to a solution.
Foreword xiii Acknowledgments xvii Prologue Contra the Mainstream Consensus--What This Book Is About 1 The Ruling Mainstream Consensus on Money 2 The Growth-versus-Inflation Trade-Off 7 What This Book Shows 8 Understanding Our Fiat Money System 11 What Is Different from the First Edition? 14 Support from Eminent Economists 19 A Note on Pronouns in the Text 20 Notes 21 Part One The Basics of Money Chapter 1 The Fundamentals of Money and Money Demand 25 The Origin and Purpose of Money 26 An Anthropologist's Challenge 29 What Gives Money Value? 34 (Almost) Any Quantity of Money Will Do 36 The Demand for Money 38 Are "Sticky" Prices a Problem? 42 Other Functions of Money 46 The Unique Position of the Paper Money Producer 51 The Monetary Asset versus Other Goods 54 Notes 61 Chapter 2 The Fundamentals of Fractional-Reserve Banking 65 The Origin and Basics of Fractional-Reserve Banking 69 Who Owns "Deposited" Money? 74 Exposing Misconceptions about Fractional-Reserve Banking 77 "Free Banking" Is Limited Banking 83 Summary of Part One 87 Notes 89 Part Two The Effects of Money Injections Chapter 3 Money Injections without Credit Markets 95 Even, Instant, and Transparent Money Injection 95 Even and Nontransparent Money Injection 98 Uneven and Nontransparent Money Injection 102 Notes 107 Chapter 4 Money Injections via Credit Markets 109 Consumption, Saving, and Investing 110 Interest 111 Interest Rates Are Not Determined by Factor Productivity 113 Money Injection via the Loan Market 119 The Process in More Detail 120 Policy Implications of the Austrian Theory 130 Addendum: Gordon Tullock's Critique of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Some Words on "Forced Saving" 133 An Example: U.S. Housing Boom and Bust 143 Summary of Part Two 150 Notes 154 Part Three Fallacies about the Price Level and Price-Level Stabilization Chapter 5 Common Misconceptions Regarding the Price Level 159 The Fallacy That a Stable Price Level Means "Neutral" Money 160 The Fallacy That Hard Money Is Unstable Money, Part 1--History 164 The Fallacy That Hard Money Is Unstable Money, Part 2--Theory 170 Notes 179 Chapter 6 The Policy of Stabilization 181 Problems with Price Index Stabilization 181 Addendum: The "Free Bankers" and the Theory of Immaculate Fractional-Reserve Banking 187 Summary of Part Three 193 Notes 195 Part Four A History of Paper Money and How We Got to Where We Are Now Chapter 7 A Legacy of Failure 199 Paper Money Experiments 201 1914--2014: A Century of Monetary Decay 206 Notes 215 Part Five Beyond the Cycle: Paper Money's Endgame and the Future of Money Chapter 8 The Beneficiaries of the Paper Money System 221 Paper Money and the Banks 223 Paper Money and the State 225 Paper Money and the Professional Economist 231 Notes 234 Chapter 9 The Intellectual Superstructure of the Present System 235 The Alternative View: Individualism and Laissez-Faire 237 The Mainstream View: Collectivism and Interventionism 241 The Political Appeal of Mainstream Macroeconomics 244 The Myth That Everybody Benefits from "Stimulus" 247 Monetarism as Monetary Interventionism 250 The Savings Glut Theory and the Myth of Underconsumption and Underinvestment 253 Inflationism and International Policy Coordination 259 Notes 265 Chapter 10 Endgames--Inflationary Meltdown or Return to Hard Money? 269 Paper Money Collapse 270 Alternatives: Return to Hard Money 277 A Return to a Gold Standard 278 The Separation of Money and State 284 Bitcoin--Money of No Authority 288 Notes 300 Epilogue Money, Freedom, and Capitalism 303 About the Author 309 Index 311
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