4/03/2012

Government meddling with money

Governments don't obtain revenue like any other organizations as payment for their services, so they have different objectives and incentives. Inflation creates a tinsel atmosphere of prosperity.

Hyperinflation (恶性通胀)can totally destroy a country's economy.
The first phase: people face increase of price and respond to that: buy less now and wait for price to low, and at the same time demand more money.

Second phase: The price keeps soaring, now people buy things based on the expectation that price will only be higher. Price goes higher.

Third phase: government is forced to do something to relieve the price soaring by printing money, exacerbating the inflation.

Fourth phase: supply of money greatly surpasses demand of money, money loses its function as a medium of exchange, as a result it will be abandoned--in other words, it loses the credit.

The fatal problem with bimetallism:
Gresham's Law
Government mandates the ratio of two money, namely gold and silver. If the ratio is 1/20, it means that 1 ounce of gold is equal to 20 ounces of silver in value of exchange. But we all know that the actual value ratio is ever-fluctuating, so it is not unusual that the actual ratio deviants 1/20, which means one kind of money is overvalued and the other undervalued. But the fluctuation of price may make one situation happen: gold and silver become popular money alternatively. Finally the government has to adopt one medium of exchange, say, gold, and that will mean people who possess silver as money are now worsen off, they cannot use silver to trade stuff. The society is worsen off.

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