Bob Murphy on Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money?

Rothbard called Mises’s The Theory of Money and Credit ”the best book on money ever written.” But Rothbard himself may have written the best money book for lay readers, namely What Has Government Done to Our Money? 

Bob Murphy joins the show to discuss this superb and eminently readable tract: a mini-course on money itself, from its origins and uses to its degradation by kings, politicians, and central bankers. In only 119 short pages, Rothbard gives us everything we need to know about this most critical commodity in society—along with the ruinous development of fully fiat (unbacked) state money. Readers also enjoy a brilliant history of money regimes, from early barter to the classical gold standard and the ultimate collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement.

Read this fantastic book for free in HTML format: Mises.org/WHGD

Bob Murphy’s series, “Understanding Money Mechanics”: Mises.org/MM

Bob Murphy interviews Fed economist David Andolfatto on the devaluation of money, among other topics: Mises.org/BMS175

Hans-Hermann Hoppe reconsiders Hutt’s seminal article, “The Yield from Money Held”: Mises.org/HoppeHutt