The Theory of Money and Credit

I've added reading notes on Ludwig Von Mises's The Theory of Money and Credit, a book written in the early twentieth century to examine the nature and value of money at a time at which world currencies were debased, governments engaged in deficit spending, and credit was extended with reckless abandon, all of which paved the way for the Great Depression - and all of which seems to have been repeated in the early twenty-first century, though not as yet to the same degree.

That said, I'm not of the opinion that the book can be dismissed as "dated." While the gold standard of currency was abandoned nearly fifty years ago in favor of fiat currency, it had been in place for millennia before and has been abandoned and re-adpopted multiple times. And it can be argued that the current age of fiat money whose value is wholly imaginary does not represent a permanent shift, but merely another misstep that, in spite of the best efforts of those who wish to preserve it, is ultimately destined to collapse.

The basis of monetary value aside, Von Mises has much to say on the theory of credit, that is of particular interest in the present age, when the world economy suffered an adjustment (and some would argue, remains on the brink of meltdown) precisely due to the misuse of credit, and misconceptions about the nature of credit, on the part of debtor and creditor alike.

It's also worth considering in that, while much has changed in the economic life of the average person since the book was written, many practices remain unchanged, and the fundamental considerations explored by the author nearly a century ago remain entirely valid, and can be expected to remain so for quite some time.