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The #gold standard (in economics) refers to a type of monetary system where the currency of a country is backed directly by the national gold reserves. In theory, it is possible for anyone in such a system to go to a bank and exchange a sum of money for a specific amount of gold. There is value to precious metals because as a society we have agreed that they have value, whereas paper does not have value because the gov… wait, what was my point?

The idea behind the gold standard is that it offers economic stability by limiting inflation and promoting public trust in the national currency. As such, the notion generally attracts nostalgists who want to return to the good old days. What's funny about this is that, for a bunch of market zealots, they certainly seem to be terrified of stocks or (god forbid) options, swaps, derivatives, etc. Remember, they want all that stuff to be completely and utterly deregulated.

#RationalWiki #goldstandard
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gold_standard_(economics)