Monetary Alternatives: Rethinking Government Fiat Money

by James A Dorn (Editor)

Overview

Today we live a world of discretionary government fiat monies. Any link of the dollar to gold ended in August 1971, when foreign central banks were no longer allowed to freely covert their dollars for gold at the official exchange rate. The end of convertibility left the dollar without an anchor except for the Federal Reserve's promise to maintain price stability. However, the current system of pure government fiat monies, managed by discretionary central banks, is inconsistent with monetary freedom and stability. The lack of a rules-based monetary regime and the barriers to competitive private currencies limit freedom and needlessly and dangerously enhance the power of central bankers.The contributors to this volume question the status quo and offer a deeper understanding of the case for rules versus discretion in the conduct of monetary policy, examine the characteristics and benefits of alternative rules, and provide a blueprint for making the transition to a free-market monetary system. It is hoped that their insights will help guide the public and policymakers to rethink current monetary arrangements and help shape a new monetary order based on freedom and the rule of law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781944424442
Publisher:	Cato Institute
Publication date:	02/28/2017
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

James A. Dorn is Vice President for Monetary Studies, Editor of the Cato Journal, Senior Fellow, and Director of Cato's annual monetary conference. He has written widely on Federal Reserve policy and monetary reform, and is an expert on China's economic liberalization. He has edited more than ten books, including The Search for Stable Money (with Anna J. Schwartz), The Future of Money in the Information Age, and China in the New Millennium.

Table of Contents

Foreword by George Selgin

Chapter 1 Introduction: Toward a New Monetary Regime by James A. Dorn

PART 1 Central Banking at a Crossroads

Chapter 2 Revisiting Three Intellectual Pillars of Monetary Policy by Claudio Borio

Chapter 3 Understanding the Interventionist Impulse of the Modern Central Bank by Jeffrey M. Lacker

Chapter 4 The Fed’s Fatal Conceit by John A. Allison

Chapter 5 Alternatives to the Fed? by Bennett T. McCallum

PART 2 Restoring a Monetary Constitution

Chapter 6 From Constitutional to Fiat Money: The U.S. Experience by Richard H. Timberlake

Chapter 7 Reductionist Reflections on the Monetary Constitution by James M. Buchanan

Chapter 8 The Implementation and Maintenance of a Monetary Constitution by Peter Bernholz

PART 3 Rules versus Discretion

Chapter 9 Commitment, Rules, and Discretion by Charles I. Plosser

Chapter 10 Real and Pseudo Monetary Rules by George Selgin

Chapter 11 Legislating a Rule for Monetary Policy by John B. Taylor

Chapter 12 Nominal GDP Targeting: A Simple Rule to Improve Fed Performance by Scott B. Sumner

Chapter 13 Toward Forecast-Free Monetary Institutions by Leland B. Yeager

PART 4 Alternatives to Government Fiat Money

Chapter 14 Gold and Silver as ConstitutionalAlternative Currencies by Edwin Vieira Jr.

Chapter 15 Making the Transition to a New Gold Standard by Lawrence H. White

Chapter 16 Currency Competition versus Governmental Money Monopolies by Roland Vaubel

Chapter 17 The Market for Cryptocurrencies by Lawrence H. White

Chapter 18 Monetary Freedom and Monetary Stability by Kevin Dowd