segunda-feira, 7 de fevereiro de 2011

(2011a) Choice In Currency: Dissolving Government Power Through Market Means

Texto elaborado para o concurso de textos sobre Economia Austríaca do ECAEF, no qual a brasileora Luciana Lopes já foi uma das vencedoras.


Versão Em Inglês: http://www.libertarianismo.org/livros/rhchoice.pdf


Resumo: The 20th Century can be retrospectively thought of as the century when, step by step, monetary freedom has been crushed. Firstly, central banking finally became world-wide spread with the creation of the US. Federal Reserve System (1913), so far an economy highly committed to sound money and free markets, and the last of the main economies of its time to adopt such an institution. Later, a disruption of the former international gold standard happened over the World War I period, further leading to massive exchange-rate imbalances and inflation. After World War II, a misleading phony gold standard was arranged by means of government and central bank international agreements (Bretton Woods), in which dollar conversion into gold was restricted for central banks only, and both international capital flows and exchange-rate formation were severally hindered. Threatened by a rising stagflation and speculative foreign attacks against the dollar, the US government defaulted on its gold liabilities in 1971. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods’ system, the international monetary system was left with several government fiat paper-money currencies floating untied to any kind of hard money which could prevent inflationary policies. Along with the loss of monetary freedom, other government interventions became solidified and widespread, such as high deficit budgets paid with national debt bonds, these in last instance capable of being monetized and paid through an inflationary tax. Outlined the precarious and hazardous situation of the current international monetary system, our task in this article is threefold: first, we shall briefly try to explain what money is, how it spontaneously emerges through social cooperation and how the absence of sound money precludes peaceful social cooperation and a modern production structure as we know it. Then, we shall point out some of the effects of government meddling with money and finance, briefly sketching the trade-cycle theory. Finally, we shall discuss the main guidelines necessary to overcome this undesired scenario, what includes a pro-choice in currency stance.

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