Quasi-Commodity Money

By George Selgin
University of Georgia
Monday, February 6, 2012

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2000118

Abstract

This paper considers reform possibilities posed by a type of base
money that has heretofore been overlooked in the literature on monetary
economics. I call this sort of money ‘quasi-commodity money’ because it
shares features with both commodity money and fiat money, as these are
usually defined, without fitting the conventional definition of either;
examples of such money are Bitcoin and the ‘Swiss dinars’ that served as
the currency of northern Iraq for over a decade. I argue that the
attributes of quasi-commodity money are such as might supply the basis
for a monetary regime that does not require oversight by any monetary
authority, yet is capable of providing for all such changes in the money
stock as may be needed to achieve a high degree of macroeconomic
stability.

For further reading:
“The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States”, George Selgin, University of Georgia, August 27, 2012

AT THE INTERSECTION OF FREE BANKING, CRYPTOGRAPHY, AND DIGITAL CURRENCY