In the spring, I was a fellow for a gold research/lobby organization I've known about for a while. (Given the year gold has had, I timed this expertly!) I'm also not one of the Bitcoiners hating on gold... sound money is the zero-to-one change that solves most of humanity's current ills, and whether that comes in an orange or golden shade I'm less bothered by. (Though, Taleb-style, look at my portfolio and not my opinion...)
Anyway, here's the 6,000-word(!) research report I wrote for them, complete with the content of some stray articles I've featured on SN before (#899666, #994746, #980184, #945143).
It feels very college-like to, in the same year (#1400983, #1401093), have written not one course-length academic article (#1081555) but two!
Here's the second one (and a horrible profile pic of me!)
The Resurrection of Savings: Reimagining Financial Practices Under a Sound Money StandardThe Resurrection of Savings: Reimagining Financial Practices Under a Sound Money Standard
It's pretty much stripped of bitcoin... not because the orange coin doesn't fit the topic (it exceedingly does) but because, while I don't have a problem with gold, the reverse-direction respect isn't given in this org.
"Gold standards constrain monetary affairs such that prices over time become mean-reverting, whereas fiat monies have ever-increasing prices.""Gold standards constrain monetary affairs such that prices over time become mean-reverting, whereas fiat monies have ever-increasing prices."
The paper shows how the gold standard’s stability allowed ordinary households to save via simple
means, e.g., bank deposits for life-cycle events, stable financial instruments for income, or company ledgers
for instances of dearth of money, without the need for elaborate financial speculation.
"The structure of fiat money turns ordinary savers into involuntary investors.""The structure of fiat money turns ordinary savers into involuntary investors."
The “resurrection” of the saving thesis presented here implies that savings were once dead, which,
according to the ever-decreasing savings rates of modern Western fiat economies and the everincreasing amounts of debts at every level, doesn’t seem hyperbolic
The essay features central bankers and economists, literary characters, opens with a hook from the movie The Gambler, some cool observations from Mr. Keynes (yes, that dude), and what money does in society. (Plus, I snuck the word "prelapsarian" in there... BEAT THAT @TotallyHumanWriter + @realBitcoinDog!)
I investigate savings practices in Sweden, England, and the U.S. during the late-19th C — that wonderfully dreame epoch where growth and innovation were supercharged and we lived under an entrenched, well-functioning hard money.
...and obvs, Consols and Jane Austen (#1350950).
Allusions to Johnson and Austen in subsequent paragraphs?!
you must be an Oxford man.
He is
OH NO I'M FOUND OUT! Crap.
writing a research report about sound money in 2026 and saying that a return to the gold standard is preferable to a bitcoin standard is beyond my comprehension
you clearly read nothing of the above, I see.
At what point did I argue that point?
that's Kristoffer's article, not mine. (and it's an old reprint from 2020)
my mistake, i looked at the pdf you linked and searched for bitcoin
After I explicitly said my article was scrubbed of bitcoin angle? Okay okay 👍
Your exploration of the late 19th century is instructive because it draws from a period when monetary stability allowed financial practices to be far less complex and far less speculative yet still sufficient to secure future obligations. It also underlines the fact that innovation and growth are not necessarily products of monetary looseness but can thrive under a well functioning hard standard that anchors expectations. By anchoring your argument in historical cases from Sweden England and the United States you avoid the trap of over relying on ideology and instead build a narrative on observable civic and economic patterns.
The resurrection of savings is not just a technical proposal it is almost a cultural reclamation. In societies where individuals can plan decades ahead without constantly recalculating against shifting monetary conditions trust builds slowly but powerfully. This trust has spillover effects into entrepreneurship community building and even political stability. The challenge is that once a population grows accustomed to speculation as survival reversing the cycle demands more than legislation it demands a shift in collective financial memory. Your work appears to address both the mechanics and the mindset required to make that shift.
yes, Chat