Saifedean Ammous, famous for The Bitcoin Standard, has a remarkable new book detailing the effects of fiat money on virtually every aspect of society. In the tradition of Guido Hülsmann’s The Ethics of Money Production, Ammous returns with The Fiat Standard. From a framework of Austrian economics, this book explains the sordid history of central banks severing currencies from gold redemption—both to finance war and enjoy the political benefits of default. But it also considers the far-ranging effects of inflation on civilization: as time preference increases, everything gets worse. Education, food, architecture, family, and science all suffer, as inflation makes us live today at the expense of tomorrow.
On the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s gold shock, The Fiat Standard is an amazing explication of how the West fell to its current state. You don’t want to miss this show, especially Saifedean’s epic takedown of fiat academia at the end!
