Intro

On this episode, we’ll hear a book panel discussion on Lawrence H. White’s book, Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin? (Cambridge University Press, 2023). In his opening remarks, Larry gives an overview of his book which details the history of money, explains how the gold, fiat, and bitcoin standards work, and aims to bridge the gap between the gold standard and cryptocurrency advocates. He covers issues of supply constraints, volatility, inflation, and common misconceptions for each of the standards. Moving forward, he explores potential forms for better monetary standards including non-governmental monetary systems. The panel is moderated by Peter J. Boettke, and they are joined on the panel by:

• Joshua Hendrickson, Associate Professor of Economics and Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Mississippi, and author of numerous publications including “The Political Economy of Bitcoin” (Economic Inquiry, 2015)
• Nicolás Cachanosky, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Free Enterprise at The University of Texas at El Paso, Senior Fellow at AIER, Fellow of the UCEMA Friedman-Hayek Center for the Study of a Free Society, and co-author of Austrian Capital Theory: A Modern Survey of the Essentials (2019)
• David Beckworth, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, former international economist at the US Department of the Treasury, and host of the Mercatus Center’s Macro Musings Podcast

Lawrence H. White is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a Distinguished Senior Fellow with the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Larry has published multiple books including The Clash of Economic Ideas: The Great Policy Debates and Experiments of the Last Hundred Years (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

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