No such thing as oil-price (or any other) cost-push inflation 95 The problem of rigid prices and wages The error of the 'beneficial mild inflation' Responsibility for unemployment would be traced back to trade unions Preventing general deflation XVIII MONETARY POLICY NEITHER DESIRABLE NOR POSSIBLE Government the major source of instability Monetary policy a cause of depressions Government cannot act in the general interest No more balance-of-payment problems The addictive drug of cheap money The abolition of central banks No fixing of rates of interest XIX A BETTER DISCIPLINE THAN FIXED RATES OF EXCHANGE Remove protection of official currency from competition Better even than gold-the 'wobbly anchor' Competition would provide better money , than would government Government monopoly of money unnecessary Difference between voluntarily accepted and enforced paper money XX SHOULD THERE BE SEPARATE CURRENCY AREAS? National currencies not inevitable or desirable Rigidity of wage-rates: raising national price structure is no solution Stable national price level could disrupt economic activity 115 XXI THE EFFECTS ON GOVERNMENT FINANCE AND EXPENDITURE 117 Good national money impossible under democratic government dependent on special interests 117 [6] Government monopoly of money and government expenditure 118 Government money and unbalanced budgets 118 Government power over money facilitates centralisation 120 XXII PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION Preventing rapid depreciation of formerly exclusive currency Introduce new currencies at once, not gradually 122 Commercial bank change in policy XXIII PROTECTION AGAINST THE STATE Pressures for return to national monetary monopolies Recurring governn1.ental control of currency and capital movements XXIV THE LONG-RUN PROSPECTS The possibility of a multiplicity of similar currenCIes The preservation of a standard of long-term debts even while currencies may lose their value New legal framework for banking XXV CONCLUSIONS Gold standard not the solution Good money can come only from self-interest, not from benevolence Is competitive paper currency practicable? 'Free Money Movement' Q,UESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION