Economist · 1881–1973
Ludwig von Mises
He argued that a gold standard restrained the issuer. This page reports the argument. It does not adopt it.
Ludwig von Mises set the argument out in Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel (1912), later in English as The Theory of Money and Credit. He argued that a money’s purchasing power is inherited from its earlier use as a commodity, not granted by the issuer’s word.
He treated a gold coin standard as a limit on governments and banks that issue claims beyond the metal. Human Action (1949) restated that case after he had left Europe. Describing the argument is not a recommendation to hold metal, and it is not a forecast.