9. Money and Gold in the 1920s and 1930s: Defending the Rothbardian Position
Friedman’s book, Monetary History of the United States, tried to show the depression was caused by a deflation of the money supply by the Fed. Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression was published the next year in 1963. Rothbard argued that the Fed was actively inflating the money supply.
Salerno defends Rothbard’s position (against Timberlake) on the definition of inflation, a marginal 100% reserve rule, physical description of the money supply, Treasury policy, and Fed policy.
Lecture 9 of 10 from Joseph Salerno’s Revisionist History and Contemporary Theory.