And so, the curtain fell. After thousands of years in which gold had quietly underpinned the world’s wealth—resting in vaults, stamped into coins, backing the very paper people carried in their pockets—its rule came to an end in 1971, not…
Imagine turning on your TV on a quiet Sunday evening in August 1971. There’s President Richard Nixon, sitting calmly at his desk, looking serious. You’re expecting another update on the economy—maybe something about jobs or inflation. But instead, he drops…
In 1944, with World War II still raging, the world’s leaders knew one thing for sure: when the war ended, they couldn’t go back to the old financial system that had failed so badly before. The gold standard had collapsed…
So, World War I had shattered the gold standard, and by 1919, the global economy was a complete mess. Governments had printed mountains of unbacked paper money, inflation was out of control in some countries, and no one really knew…
Alright, let’s talk about how the gold standard—once the backbone of the world economy—completely fell apart. For decades, the system worked like a charm: money was backed by gold, exchange rates were stable, and international trade was booming. But there…
By the early 1900s, the gold standard reached its peak. Nearly every major economy had joined the system, and for the first time in history, the world had a truly global monetary system. Money was stable, international trade was booming,…
Imagine living in the 1800s and having to worry about whether your money will still be worth something tomorrow. That was a real concern for many people! Before the gold standard, countries used all sorts of money—gold, silver, and even…
