How is Fiat Money Possible?

[madfranks]

I've been browsing through the mises.org website and found this great e-book in pdf format, called, How is Fiat Money Possible -or, The Devolution of Money and Credit. It's an analysis of how fiat money came to be, discussing whether or not fiat money is possible in a free market, and concluding how fiat money can ultimately only come about through the use of government instituted monopoly. A very good and quick read, two thumbs up!

http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE7_2_3.pdf

[madfranks]

My favorite line:

"A monopoly creates a distinction between two classes of individuals of different legal quality: between those privileged individuals who are permitted to produce money, and those subordinate ones who, to the exclusive advantage of the former, are prohibited from doing the same. Such an institution cannot be supported in the same voluntary way as the institutions of the division of labor and a commodity money."