The Crime of 1873
指出美国1873年铸币法案废除白银自由铸造是一个错误，带来了严重的负面后果，挑战了传统上认为该法案是幸运之事的观点。
The U.S. Coinage Act of 1873 eliminated provision for the free coinage of silver. That act cast the die for a gold standard. The conventional view is that "the act of 1873 was a piece of good fortune." This paper indicates that it was the opposite--a mistake that had highly adverse consequences. This is a judgment about 1873, not 1896. By 1896, when William Jennings Bryan ran for president on a "free-silver ticket, " it was too late to undo the damage. Bryan was trying to close the barn door after the horse had been stolen. Copyright 1990 by University of Chicago Press.