The Fekete Archive
A complete, searchable, web-native repository of Professor Antal Fekete's published essays, lectures, and articles.
Fekete passed away in 2023. His written work is the primary record of New Austrian Economics as a distinct school. Preserving and presenting it properly is an act of intellectual stewardship.
255 articles
Waiting for Godot
Fekete's final essay in the archive, using Beckett's play to frame the monetary situation: like Estragon and Vladimir, monetary reformers are waiting for a Godot (genuine monetary reform, gold standard restoration, systemic collapse) that always seems to be approaching but never quite arrives. The essay reflects on decades of monetary prediction and the mystery of why the system persists against all rational expectation.
Timing Hyperinflation
Fekete examines the difficulty of timing hyperinflation — the event he expects to follow the collapse of the paper money system — and explains why it cannot be predicted with precision but can be anticipated structurally. He examines the indicators he watches (gold basis, bond market, silver-gold ratio) and what threshold events would signal hyperinflation's imminence.
An Appraisal of the Global Monetary System of the 21st Century
Fekete's comprehensive assessment of the global monetary system in 2017, examining how the dollar system has evolved since 2008, the state of the gold basis, and the prospects for monetary reform or collapse. One of his most systematic late-career surveys of the monetary landscape.
On the So-Called Nuclear Option
Fekete examines China's alleged nuclear option of dumping U.S. Treasury bonds, arguing that this threat is less than it appears because China cannot sell Treasuries without destabilizing the dollar system on which its own trade surplus depends. The real nuclear option belongs to neither side but to the gold market, whose eventual backwardation will detonate the paper money system.
The Dollar May Not Be Beyond Repair — and Trump May Be the One to Repair It
Written after Trump's election victory, Fekete argues that if Trump implemented genuine monetary reform — reopening the Mint to gold, eliminating the Fed's bond-buying programs — the dollar could be saved. He provides no guarantee that Trump will do this but argues the window for reform is briefly open.
Professor Fekete Interview with Guillermo Barba (2016)
A 2016 follow-up interview with Guillermo Barba covering developments in gold markets, monetary policy, and the state of the global monetary system. Fekete provides his assessment of where the paper money system stands after a decade of post-2008 emergency measures and what the next phase will bring.
Was Carl Menger Jewish?
Fekete examines the historical question of Carl Menger's Jewish ancestry, arguing that this biographical question has bearing on the transmission of Menger's ideas and the development of Austrian economics. The essay connects Menger's personal history to the intellectual tradition of the Austrian School.
Global Gold Interview
An interview with Global Gold covering Fekete's analysis of the gold market in 2015, including his assessment of permanent backwardation's progress, the implications of Chinese gold demand, and the prospects for the paper monetary system. One of his later interviews, providing a current-state assessment of his long-running monetary analysis.
Octandor: The Spontaneous Remonetization of Gold and the Revival of Vanishing World Trade
Fekete coins the term 'Octandor' for a proposed eight-country gold arrangement that would spontaneously remonetize gold through bilateral trade settlement. Countries with physical gold reserves could begin settling trade in gold, bypassing the dollar system and creating a nucleus of sound monetary practice that others would join as the dollar system deteriorates.
The Spontaneous Remonetization of Gold and the Revival of Moribund World Trade
Fekete argues that gold's remonetization is already happening spontaneously — not through official policy but through the accumulation of physical gold by central banks (especially China and Russia) and private individuals who have lost confidence in paper money. This spontaneous process will eventually overwhelm the suppression campaign and restore gold to its monetary role organically.
Blowing Up Modern Austrian Economics — in a Good Way
A Daily Bell interview in which Fekete explains how the New Austrian School 'blows up' modern Austrian economics by correcting its foundational errors regarding the Real Bills Doctrine and the gold basis. He argues this reconstruction makes Austrian monetary theory more powerful, not less, by giving it the analytical tools to understand permanent backwardation and the endgame of fiat money.
The Counter-Productive Monetary Policy of the Fed
Fekete's year-end analysis of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, arguing that every policy action since 2008 has been counter-productive — not by accident but by design. ZIRP destroys savings, QE destroys capital allocation, forward guidance destroys price discovery. The Fed's tools are not merely ineffective but actively destructive.
How the Fed Bankrupted the Insurance Industry
Fekete examines the Federal Reserve's near-zero interest rate policy and its catastrophic effect on insurance companies, which depend on long-term fixed-income returns to meet future obligations. He argues this is not a side effect of monetary policy but its logical consequence: destroying all businesses that depend on positive real interest rates.
The Wisdom of Adam Smith for Our Own Times
Fekete revisits Adam Smith's monetary wisdom — the Real Bills Doctrine, the role of gold coin, and the critique of paper money — and shows its direct relevance to 21st-century monetary problems. Smith understood instinctively what modern economists have forgotten: that self-liquidating credit and gold-backed money are the foundations of stable prosperity.
Thank Heaven for Gold Manipulators
In a deliberately provocative essay, Fekete argues that gold price manipulators have inadvertently served the cause of monetary reform by demonstrating the desperation of the paper money system. Their manipulation has not prevented gold's monetary resurrection but merely delayed it while providing evidence of the system's fragility.
What Constitutes a Money Crank?
Fekete examines the 'money crank' accusation — the dismissal of unconventional monetary thinkers as cranks — and argues that the real cranks are those who defend the indefensible: an irredeemable currency system that destroys capital, produces recurrent crises, and cannot be reformed without returning to gold. The history of monetary thought shows who the real cranks are.
Menger or Mises
Fekete argues that Carl Menger, not Ludwig von Mises, is the proper foundation for a complete monetary theory. While Mises made important contributions, his dismissal of the Real Bills Doctrine and his regression theorem contain errors that Menger's original framework does not. Returning to Menger provides a stronger basis for understanding gold's monetary role.
Interview with Guillermo Barba (March 2014)
An interview with Mexican financial journalist Guillermo Barba covering gold, silver, monetary reform, and the state of the international monetary system in 2014. Fekete addresses questions about China's gold accumulation, the role of silver in a reformed monetary system, and the prospects for monetary collapse and reconstruction.
Bonds May Be Defying Dire Forecasts, But They Are Not Defying Logic, Part Two
Part two examines the specific mechanisms by which the Federal Reserve has sustained the bond bull market past its natural lifespan, analyzing the QE tapering decision and its implications. Fekete argues that tapering cannot be sustained without triggering the bond collapse that QE was designed to prevent.
Why Gold Standard?
A concise statement of the case for restoring the gold standard, addressed to readers who accept that the current system is failing but are uncertain whether gold is the answer. Fekete argues that no alternative monetary anchor — SDRs, commodities baskets, cryptocurrency — can provide what gold provides: an endogenous, self-regulating, inflation-proof monetary base.