In principle you could have a commodities standard - although the only privately owned commodities-backed currency I'm aware of is Airmiles, and that has notoriously hyperinflated.
There is also a substantial subculture in favour of "free banking" - ie, using the obligations of privately owned banks as the currency, as was done in Scotland in the 18th century*. This has some elements of fiat and some of gold, in that the currency has to be ultimately convertible into gold, but there is some scope for bankers to expand their issue. best dd * actually this is only kindasorta true. The Scottish banks did issue notes freely, and those were used as currency for trade and investment, but the banks never had the power to mint coins, and for most of the free banking period there were quite stringent restrictions on small-denomination notes. Since five pounds was a hell of a lot of money in the olden days, the Scottish system was actually a combination of a private currency for large transactions and a bastard gold/fiat coinage system for everyday use. > ----- Original Message ----- >> Sure; not everyone thinks the free market or gold are super ideas. I > meant, when the Austrians and Ron Paul harp about "fiat money," aren't > they really just asking for a gold peg? > > s > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
