The rumor is that Republicans, at their upcoming convention, will call for a government commission to study the feasibility of returning to a gold monetary standard. The platform would also call for a policy audit of the Federal Reserve, a proposal that has passed the House but is currently stuck in the Senate (and apparently opposed by the Obama White House).
First let’s recognize that a GOP gold standard plank isn’t all that novel. Republican platforms in the past have often alluded to “a dependable monetary standard,” as both the 1980 and 1984 platforms made some reference to monetary matters. In fact, the 1980 election did result in the creation of a Gold Commission. Cato recently republished the commission’s minority report, The Case for Gold, as a free ebook. So if Republicans want to consider some sort of gold standard, there is already a significant amount written on the topic. Cato also published a paper in 2008 by George Mason University professor Larry White on the economics of the gold standard.
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