Alan Greenspan, who died on Monday, is being remembered largely for his time as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 through 2006. In that position, Greenspan played a critical role in advancing the American state.
But, it is also important to remember that, about 20 years before he became Federal Reserve chairman, Greenspan was challenging the state, including by criticizing the abandonment of the gold standard in America that went on to be replaced largely by actions of the Federal Reserve.
In 1966, Alan Greenspan’s essay Gold and Economic Freedom was published in novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand’s newsletter The Objectivist. It was also reprinted a year later in Rand’s book Capitalism: The Uknown Ideal.
In the first two paragraphs of his essay, Greenspan stated his assessment that a gold standard advances freedom, while its elimination is a tactic for suppressing freedom. Wrote Greenspan:
An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense — perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire — that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other.
In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society.
For many free market and liberty supporting individuals attracted to the ideas espoused by Rand, Greenspan’s essay provided an introduction to the importance of a gold standard for advancing both liberty and prosperity. You can read the essay here.
