k********8
发帖数: 7948 | 1 http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120320-712102.html
--Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defends country's break with gold
standard
--Gold standard can cause both inflations and deflations, Bernanke says
--Practical, policy problems with gold standard
(Updated first paragraph, adds political context in the second paragraph and
comments on China in the seventh and eighth paragraphs and his response to
a student in the 11th and 12th paragraphs.)
By Kristina Peterson
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, addressing
calls from some politicians to have the U.S. return to the gold standard,
defended the country's break with the policy Tuesday at the first of his
four lectures at George Washington University.
Bernanke explained to a packed lecture hall why a gold standard harmed the
global economy during the Great Depression. Some recent critics of the Fed,
most notably GOP presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, have pushed
to return to the gold standard, in which paper money is backed by gold. The
U.S. was on the gold standard between the Civil War until the 1930s, and the
tie was fully severed by President Richard Nixon in 1971.
The gold standard poses both practical and policy problems, Bernanke said.
On the practical side, it can be a waste of resources to secure all the gold
needed to back currency, moving it from South Africa to the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York's basement, for example, or as he put it, "all this gold
is being dug up and being put back into another hole."
More significantly, a country on a gold standard will see more short-term
volatility, Bernanke said.
"Since the gold standard determines the money supply, there's not much scope
for the central bank to use monetary policy to stabilize the economy," he
said. Bernanke noted the gold standard did not prevent frequent financial
panics.
During the Great Depression, "policy errors" in the United States spread to
other countries that were also on the gold standard, Bernanke said.
Countries on the gold standard must maintain fixed exchange rates, making it
easy for bad policies in one country to spread to another on the gold
standard, he noted.
One modern example of the inherent problems of the gold standard is China's
fixed currency, Bernanke said. Because China ties its currency to that of
the U.S., China could be impacted by changes the Fed makes to short-term
interest rates.
"If the Fed lowers interest rates and stimulates the U.S. economy, that
means also that essentially monetary policy becomes easier in China as well,
" Bernanke said. "China may experience inflation because it's tied to U.S.
monetary policy." The central banker did say that China's currency has
become "more flexible lately."
While Bernanke acknowledged that over decades, prices are very stable in
countries using the gold standard, they can experience both periods of
deflation and inflation in the medium run. And if not "perfectly credible,"
the gold standard can be subject to speculative attack and ultimately
collapse as people try to exchange paper money for gold.
Part of why the Fed failed in its managing of the Great Depression was its
attempts to stay on the gold standard, he noted. One of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's most successful moves as president was to begin to take the
country off the gold standard, he said.
One reason that critics push to return to the gold standard is they want to
remove some "discretion" from the Fed, Bernanke said in response to a
question from Noah Wiviott, a senior at George Washington.
A country with a gold standard "doesn't allow the central bank to respond
with monetary policy," he said.
-By Kristina Peterson, Dow Jones Newswires; 347-882-7215; kristina.peterson@
dowjones.com | k********f
发帖数: 6033 | | k********8
发帖数: 7948 | | p********y
发帖数: 5044 | 4 1月底还是2月初大本出来说继续保持零利率的时候, cnbc还在说大本是金子的最好朋友
勒. 现在好朋友要背叛啦?
【在 k********8 的大作中提到】
: 大本说纸币是美好的，囤金是罪恶的
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