The Natural Order of Money

A profoundly important book
The Natural Order of Money is a concisely written book that delves into the philosophical nature of money, value, and the organization of man’s activities within a wider economic system. In today’s fiat money system, this book is very important treatise on the relation of the value of production from primary activities, mining and agriculture to it’s secondary stages of manufacturing and consumption.

Jib Jab nonsense but entertaining
For the economic illiterate it will read well and perhaps give one a warm and fuzzy feeling if you believe the gold standard was a good thing. You can tell the author has no formal education (not intended to be mean but it matters) because the first half of the book is essentially a recycle of heterodox economic theory (Austrian school) just with different naming conventions and labeling. The high level framework around human action, time, significance of raw materials and collaboration is almost identical to the work of Mises and Hayek. The difference is those academic scholars have robust logically consistent theories and views, this is more of an inconsistent footnote. There is also Shumpeter and Aristotles prime mover mixed into the theory structure, however the author acknowledges none of these schools or thinkers where (atleast to me) there influence is explicitly illustrated. I found this strange considering Jevons was explicitly mentioned when referencing certain specifics but not the others. Generally, the real economy is where raw materials get sourced and the service economy is everything else, nature keeps everything in check (scarcity/commons) and as we depart from ranking the real economy superior to the often parasitic service economy we suffer as a society. Sounds nice but life expectancy and population growth when the world exclusively focused on what he defines as the real economy was far less than when we focused on what is defined as the service economy. Does not pass any smell test under a critical eye. There are a bunch of other inconsistencies especially with the conception of energy and the reason gold is the best currency. Thus not economics nor economic theory. Further the definition provided of economics and other base assumptions were often normative not positive. So out of the gate reality got abandoned.Good things: i think its an interesting thought exercise that tries to apply natural law to economics and currency. If you are into natural law its useful to see an example of how that might look in non traditional discipline. Its also well written. Certainly worth your time at the library waiting for an uber but not economics and not useful for public/econ policy. It is a good exercise in spot welding natural law to something as an amateur philosophical endeavor. I think if the author worked on removing the logical inconsistencies and building out the theory in far greater detail and preciseness it will be a better more influential text.

Fiat currency leads to lack of accountability to the economic laws of nature
A compelling argument for why fiat currencies and the government printing of money is not sustainable and why we must return to the gold standard.

Elaborate Sales Pitch for Gold
This “book” is approximately 70 short pages of why we should re-adopt gold as our primary currency. It’s a genius sales pitch because you, the ostensible new proponent of gold, pay to receive it. Roy Sebag is intelligent. He’s also an investor in commodities (including, and especially gold). It’s no wonder that the book only elucidates pros and includes no counter arguments for the use of gold as currency.