By George Selgin
University of Georgia
Monday, February 6, 2012
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2000118
Abstract
This paper considers reform possibilities posed by a type of base
money that has heretofore been overlooked in the literature on monetary
economics. I call this sort of money 'quasi-commodity money' because it
shares features with both commodity money and fiat money, as these are
usually defined, without fitting the conventional definition of either;
examples of such money are Bitcoin and the 'Swiss dinars' that served as
the currency of northern Iraq for over a decade. I argue that the
attributes of quasi-commodity money are such as might supply the basis
for a monetary regime that does not require oversight by any monetary
authority, yet is capable of providing for all such changes in the money
stock as may be needed to achieve a high degree of macroeconomic
stability.
For further reading:
"The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States", George Selgin, University of Georgia, August 27, 2012
Great brain food!
ReplyDeleteThe Bitcoin commmunity should particularly note the conclusion (p25) that Bitcoin must *inherently* remain an unofficial money.
"The unofficial status of both of the real-world instances of quasi-commodity money considered here is therefore more than just an incidental feature of those monies."