Most members of TIME'S Board of Economists regard a U.S. return to the gold standard as a distant and potentially dangerous goal. They maintain that such a move would probably force the Federal Reserve to try to make dollars more valuable by holding down the money supply and pushing up interest rates. Such action would, of course, crush businesses heavily dependent on borrowed funds and substantially boost unemployment. The dollar would be under particular pressure whenever conflicts like the Iran-Iraq war caused wealthy Arabs and other panicky investors to seek the safety of the yellow metal. Warns Otto Eckstein, chairman of...
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