Podcasts

David Friedman on monetary freedom

Episode 100: GoldMoney's Andy Duncan speaks to Professor David Friedman, the author of The Machinery of Freedom (1989) and son of the late great economist Milton Friedman. They discuss the possible future of private competing currencies, with surprising conclusions about the resilience of the current global fiat monetary system and the usefulness of gold as a monetary commodity, Professor Friedman thinks the breakthrough and change in money systems will centre around e-money systems, such as BitCoin. As a supporter of fractional reserve banking, he explains why he thinks fractional reserve banking will outdo 100% reserve banks in a completely private competitive monetary system.

Moving on to the development of liberty in the western world over the last 100 years, Professor Friedman describes what he sees as the various movements of power between the individual and the state, the possibility of territorial secessions in Europe and the United States, and how and why he will be writing a third edition of his seminal work, The Machinery of Freedom.

This podcast was recorded on 12 February 2013.