En Alt-M (Ideas for an Alternative Monetary Future) George Selgin resume 10 puntos que todo economista debe conocer sobre el patrón oro. «10 Mitos Tan Difundidos como Erróneos Sobre el Patrón Oro» hubiese sido un título igual de descriptivo. Es una lectura que vale la pena para todos los interesados en temas monetarios, dado que las implicancias van más allá de una pura apreciación histórica sobre el patrón oro.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (well, OK–at the risk of continuing to sound like a broken record), I’d like to say a bit more about economists’ tendency to get their monetary history wrong.  In particular, I’d like to take aim at common myths about the gold standard.

If there’s one monetary history topic that tends to get handled especially sloppily by monetary economists, not to mention other sorts, this is it.   Sure, the gold standard was hardly perfect, and gold bugs themselves sometimes make silly claims about their favorite former monetary standard.   But these things don’t excuse the errors many economists commit in their eagerness to find fault with that «barbarous relic.»

Seguir leyendo en Alt-M.