Understanding The Gold Standard

The gold standard refers to the use of gold as the “insurance” to back what a country’s paper currency was actually worth - if there was no physical asset to support the value of the paper, well, the dollar bill in your wallet was worth just that - paper. The gold standard has been in use in one form or another since the earliest days of coinage when rulers minted coins and the value of a coin was the intrinsic value of the gold or other precious metal contained within it. Stamping the head and name of the king or emperor whose treasury issued the coinage was not just a political statement as to who was boss, but also a symbol of quality control - you have one of my coins, I am saying it has this much gold included in it!