The United Kingdom slipped into a gold specie standard in 1717 by over-valuing gold at 15+1⁄5 times its weight in silver. It was unique among nations to use gold in conjunction with clipped, underweight silver shillings, … See more

Inception
In the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress that a decimal currency system be adopted by the United States. The initial recommendation in 1785 was a See more

In 2024, Zimbabwe became the first country in the 21st century to use a gold standard for its currency, in order to tackle inflation and create confidence within the economy. The Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) is backed by US$400 million and 2,522 kg of gold, thus giving a … See more

Silver and bimetallic standards until the 19th century
The use of gold as money began around 600 BCE in Asia Minor and has been widely accepted ever … See more

Rollout in Europe and the United States
The international classical gold standard commenced in 1873 after the German Empire decided to transition from the silver North German thaler See more

Impact of World War I
Governments with insufficient tax revenue suspended convertibility repeatedly in the 19th century. The real test, however, came in the form of World War I, a test which "it failed utterly" according to economist Richard Lipsey See more

Commodity money is inconvenient to store and transport in large amounts. Furthermore, it does not allow a government to … See more