Buttonwood’s notebook | Deflation

Jim Grant and the Gold Standard

An entertaining romp

By Buttonwood

EVEN if you don't agree with any of it, it is worth reading Jim Grant's entertaining speech to the New York Federal Reserve about the gold standard. Some people might feel he was rude to his hosts, but he might never get the chance to tell them his views again.

The point in Grant's speech that stuck in my mind was on deflation. Central banks were very concerned about deflation ten years ago, particularly as they had the Japanese example in front of them. But Grant argues that

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