"The legend of King Midas has been generally misunderstood. Most people think the curse that turned everything the old miser touched into gold, leaving him unable to eat or drink, was a lesson in the perils of avarice. But Midas’s true sin was his failure to understand monetary economics. What the gods were really telling him is that gold is just a metal. If it sometimes seems to be more, that is only because society has found it convenient to use gold as a medium of exchange—a bridge between other, truly desirable, objects. There are other possible mediums of exchange, and it is silly to imagine that this pretty, but only moderately useful, substance has some irreplaceable significance."
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Academics from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesColumnists from the United StatesBloggers from the United StatesEconomists from the United States
Original Language: English
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"The Gold Bug Variations", Originally published in Slate (Nov. 23, 1996)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman
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Paul Krugman
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