Money Facts and Monetary Controversies

A collection of links to sources

Money : What it is and How it Works

A series of articles by William F. Hummel.

 

International Monetary Law

Conference proceedings of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association.

 

Debunking the Federal Reserve Conspiracy Theories

A series of articles by Edward Flaherty exposing popular myths about the Federal Reserve System.

 

Ideal Money and Asymptotically Ideal Money by John Forbes Nash

An article by John F. Nash, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economic Science and the subject of the film A Beautiful Mind explaining his suggestions for using an index of the prices of internationally traded commodities to fix the value of currencies gold and silver did in the past. Alternatively the value of a currency could depreciate in line with the inflation target of the country's central bank.

 

Single Global Currency Association

The Single Global Currency Association seeks to promote the implementation of a single global currency, with an international central bank, by the year 2025. The website also has many links to other sites on money.

 

New Economics Foundation

The New Economics Foundation is the radical think tank. It is unique in bringing together the ideas, people, resources and influence to challenge business-as-usual. Its aim is to create practical and enterprising solutions to the social, environmental and economic challenges facing the local, regional, national and global economies.

 

America's Total Debt Report

This report contains data on the growth of the US national debt over the past 70 years and proposals for its reduction. It is one of a series of Grandfather Economic Reports by Michael Hodges on the US economic legacy to future generations.

 

The Rationale of Central Banking by Vera C. Smith

An online version of a book first published in 1936. It is based on Vera Smith's PhD thesis which she produced under the supervision of Friedrich Hayek.

 

LewRockwell.com

A website that describes itself as "anti-state, anti-war and pro-market. Many of its articles are on financial matters.

 

The Money Masters

This site is strongly opposed to the concept of central banking and the national debt. It explains the long history of opposition to central banking in the US and has links to related sites in other countries. Orders can be placed online for a two volume video also entitled The Money Masters which starts with the development of fractional reserve banking and the foundation of the Bank of England, and then moves on to the the developments in other countries and in particular the history of banking controversies in the US.

 

Fractional Reserve Banking as Economic Parasitism

A scientific, mathematical & historical expose, critique, and manifesto.

 

Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education

Contains some historical material in support of the case for "honest money."

 

The Ludwig von Mises Institute

The Institute opposes statism, government spending on welfare, and central banking, and defends the free market, private property, and sound money. It draws its inspiration from the work of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), author of The Theory of Money and Credit (1912)

 

MonetaryReform.com

Monetary Reform.com is a website that describes itself as being for anyone concerned with the exploitative system of monopoly capitalism.

 

US Tax Reform

A website disputing the need for income tax and some other taxes. It also includes "the Second Bill of Rights" i.e. an excerpt from the 11 January 1944 message from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Congress.

 

Safe Haven

Articles defending the role of gold in the monetary system, and on other topics to do with the stock market and the economy by Edmond J. Bugos.

 

A Tale of Three Lies

A defence of gold by Antal Fekete, Professor Emeritus, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

 

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee

A campaign to preserve the role of gold in the world economy.

 

Karl Marx's Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie (English Version)

This has a chapter on money and another on capital.

 

A Refutation of Menger's Theory of the Origins of Money

This paper by Stephen Zarlenga of the American Monetary Institute argues that an institutional origin of money, whether religious or social, is much more likely to have occurred than Menger's assumed market origin.

 

Yamaguchy Reading List

The full text of various publications, many from the 19th century, on controversies over money and banking.

 

A Monetary System for the New Millennium by Roger Langrick

Langrick argues that the fractional reserve money system, which originated with John Law, enabled humanity to scrabble out of scarcity but is antiquated in an age when the emphasis should be on sustainable development.

 

Money upside down - A paradigm shift in economics and monetary theory?

A thesis completed in 2003 by Harald Haas at the University of Bremen surveying the history and problems of fractional reserve banking and considering alternative theories of money creation.

 

"The Foulest of Them All" by Jay Hanson.

An essay on politics, money, and the limits to growth.

 

Soft Currency Economics by Warren B. Mosler.

Mosler argues that the government should be an employer of last resort. His site has some information about the recent history of fiat money.

 

Financial Derivatives: Hedging Risk or Courting Disaster?

Derivatives have been involved in some of the biggest losses and financial scandals of recent years as a technique designed to reduce risk is all too often treated as a gambler's tool.

 

The Nature of Money by John Kutyn

Argues that unless fractional reserve banking is eliminated we will see the collapse of world stock markets, bond markets, currencies and economies.

 

I Want The Earth Plus 5%

A story to illustrate the arguments against commercial, fractional reserve banking. The pages are also available in Danish, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu.

 

British Association for Monetary Reform

This site comprises articles and books by Doctor Edward C Hamlyn MBChB, President of the British Association for Monetary Reform.

 

The Great Seal of the United States

Although Americans see it daily on the one-dollar bill, most know very little about their national symbol and what they do know is often wrong.

 

Piet Bouter's Currency Issues web page

Contains material by Ulrich von Beckerath such as his paper on Public Insurance and Compensation Money, originally published in 1938, and A way out of the monetary chaos by Walter Zander. Piet Bouter claims that their writings are still relevant to current problems in many parts of the world.