Understanding the Dollar Crisis

by Percy L. Greaves Jr.

In the year that President Nixon closed the gold window forever and the US government removed the last vestiges of the gold standard, nonstop dollar turmoil was unleashed. In that same year, Percy L. Greaves, a student of Ludwig von Mises's, released a blockbuster of a book that sought to explain the crisis. It was a huge seller and taught a generation to think like Austrian economists, who, after all, were the only ones offering a coherent explanation of events.Percy Greaves's widow, Bettina Bien Greaves, gave her permission for a republication of this book, on the occasion of the current dollar crisis. What's remarkable is how Percy's analysis holds up in nearly every way, after all these years.He begins by clarifying that in order to understand the dollar crisis, one must understand much What is economics? What is the difference between price and value? What is money, and how did it originate? How and why did the gold standard come about? What are the causes of the business cycle? And much more.What he did was produce an excellent primer on monetary economics that still retains its value.Ludwig von Mises himself wrote the foreword to the "These seven lectures are not merely a substitute for a textbook on economics. They are much more. They are an attempt to analyze and to explain the meaning and the effects of the various systems, methods, and measures of economic policies."

Genres: Economics, Finance

334 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2015

Reviews

[Patrick Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020-05-02 The first time I read this book was either my senior year in college or a year or two after I graduated ( 1977-79) after meeting the author and his wife at their home in Irvington-0n-Hudson, NY. Wonderful intro book for those interested in:
- economics in general
- the great depression
- how the Federal Reserve manipulates the money supply and what effect that has on the economy
- how the president influences the Federal Reserve and many other things that manipulate the economy and how frivolous, ridiculous and counterproductive that is
- what inflation is, is not, and how insidious it can be
- some great economists/economics you probably have never heard of

If you think economics is about math, statistics and is boring - this book might be just the thing to pop that false (though still too often taught by mainstream teachers/profs) bubble.

Try it, you'll like it. Though it might make you mad for being robbed of what economics and history are really all about, in your previous reading and classes.

I read the book again during a class that I set up for the Free Market Society of Chicago about 1993 or 4, taught by David Hershey. Wonderful class of some very high-power financial managers mainly + my wife, a salesperson at the time - who all really appreciated this basic, but very insightful book.

P.S. This book uses an Austrian/Misesian/free market understanding of economics, not the much more common mainstream or Chicagoan/Monetarist or Marxian view.
The book is also a good contrast to the otherwise very good book on the Great Depression by Jim Powell "FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression", which used a Chicagoan/Monetarist lens.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

[Grace Davenport · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent set of lectures explaining the downfall of America’s economy and how/why it happened. Greaves explains how our economy was first formed and how, through government intervention, the U.S. was put in greater debt, and the U.S. dollar was devalued more and more. He makes it clear throughout that, if America had not started veering away from a free market economy, it would not be in the economic state it is in now. I’m not sure I fully grasped every point in this book to its full extent, I don’t think I’m economically informed enough yet, so I would certainly put this on my reread list! Don’t know if a reread will actually ever happen, but at least it’s on the list, right? Ha!
Considering how massive a subject American economics is, Greaves does an incredible job explaining it! The book is certainly not lacking information, and can be quite heady at times, but overall a VERY thorough set of lectures that I would highly recommend reading if you want a clearer understanding of our economy and how it has gotten to where it is now. As for me, this book has brought me one step closer to grasping the complex subject of economics! Yessss!

[Tarah Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really got a lot out of this series of lectures, but it’s not the most approachable and I definitely needed to talk through it to be sure I was understanding the content.

Not a beginning economics book, but still great!

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great introductory text to Economics in the broadest sense. That means the author not only addresses the nature of economics but also discusses important issues such as the role of value in human action, how prices are determined, and the effect of wage interventions. All of these topics are timely in the current era. In Part Two of the book the focus is on the nature of money and the cause of the 1929 depression.
Written by a student of Ludwig von Mises, this is an excellent place to start to learn the essentials of economics or to refresh your knowledge of the subject. I would recommend this to all people who are interested in how the government is inexorably destroying our economy and how it can be saved.

[Henrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the parts associated with an online course, Austrian Microeconomics (https://versal.com/learn/wnrj2n/). Very nice read, the text is actually lectures written down and it works surprisingly well.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best economics book I have come across. The book is written based on seven lectures in Argentina. It is a great primer for -Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises.

[Bud Hewlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one of my top five. Almost everything I believe about economics I learned from this book. It has turned me into a thorough going disciple of Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian school of Economics.
Out of print , but probably available use from Amazon.