The term isn’t heard much these days, but it refers to someone who thinks that just by manipulating the money supply the government can bring about good results. In other words, someone who advocates inflation.
History has had lots of them and in this Freeman article today, Larry Reed (president of FEE and a former faculty colleague of mine) provides a good short history of monetary crank-ism. He focuses in particular on post-Civil War America when inflationists hit upon the idea of diluting the money stock by coining lots of silver. It was corporate welfare for silver producers and meant as a political goody for debtors (mainly farmers) who could pay off their debts in cheapened dollars. That inflationary episode led to the Panic of 1893.
Inflation is the essential ingredient in panics and depressions.
We still have monetary cranks, Larry says, but now they wear expensive suits and work for the federal government or businesses that want to feed at the public trough.
