The Tom Woods Show Ep. 2713 The Incredible World Sound Money Would Have Given Us
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Nov 29, 2025 
Saifedean Ammous, an economist and author known for his insights on sound money, discusses his new book, which envisions a world where sound money prevails. He describes a unique blend of fiction, history, and economics to illustrate the benefits of a gold standard. Ammous critiques central banks and their unbacked credit, proposes decentralized gold clearing, and highlights how sound money would improve housing affordability and reduce interest rates. He also explores the civilizational costs of inflation and imagines a more prosperous world grounded in hard money.
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Fiction + History To Teach Monetary Effects
- Saifedean Ammous presents the book as a blend of novel, real history, and economic analysis to plausibly imagine a 20th century with sound money.
- He argues this format lets readers see how monetary changes could realistically reshape political and economic outcomes.
Decentralize Gold Clearing To Prevent Credit Abuse
- Under the classical gold standard central banks centralized gold and could still create unbacked credit by leveraging monopoly control.
- Saifedean proposes a decentralized gold-clearing system using early aviation to prevent central-bank-driven inflation.
Hard Money Lowers Time Preference And Interest
- Hardness of money lowers time preference, encouraging saving and long-term planning according to Saifedean Ammous.
- He argues that with very hard money nominal interest could fall to zero because storage costs exceed returns, eliminating usury in practice.
