Francis A. Walker

Francis A. Walker

Francis Amasa Walker was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and military officer in the Union Army.

Bimetallism

Walker published International Bimetallism in 1896 roundly critiquing the demonetization of silver out of political pressure and the impact of this change on prices and profits as well as worker employment and wages. Walker's reputation and position on the issue isolated him among public figures and made him a target in the press. The book was published in the midst of the 1896 presidential election pitting populist "silver" candidate William Jennings Bryan against the capitalist "gold" candidate William McKinley and the competing interpretations of the nation's leading economist's stance on the issue became a political football during the campaign. The presidential candidate and economist were not close allies as Walker advocated a double standard by all leading financial nations while Bryan argued for the United States' unilateral shift to a silver standard. The rift was heightened by the east-west divide on the issue as well as Walker's general distaste for political populism; Walker's position was supported by conservative bankers and statesmen like Henry Lee Higginson, George F. Hoar, John M. Forbes, and Henry Cabot Lodge.

In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent both to a certain quantity of gold and to a certain quantity of silver; such a system establishes a fixed rate of exchange between the two metals. Some authors, such as Angela Redish or Charles Kindleberger have argued that bimetallism was, by construction, unstable. Changes in gold-silver exchange were, in their eyes, leading to massive changes in the money supply. Bimetallism was thus inherently flawed and the advent of the gold standard was inevitable. This view has been challenged by Friedman and Flandreau who wrote that the option to pay in gold or in silver had in fact a stabilizing effect.

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