Adam Smith

What If We'd Been on the Gold Standard?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the premise of your argument seems to be that growth is the key criteria without regards to purchasing power. Countries can always accelerate growth if they allow an aggressive expansion of credit (money) which they are free to do given no ties to the value of gold. What good is growth if the purchasing power declines a the same pace? Credit expansion and contraction leads to booms that lead to over investment and busts that lead to bankruptcy and destruction of value.