The drain of gold from Britain is a little-known story with enormous consequences. Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance focuses on this episode, and does a good job of discussing the individuals involved and the drama taking place, but adopts the reigning Keynesian understanding of the issue, putting the blame for the entire episode on the gold standard. In spite of his extensive research, Ahamed fails to comprehend that the problem was not the gold standard, but that post–World War I governments had wanted to return to the gold standard at the pre–World War I rates. Had they admitted to their
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