Asked by sfv

In the late 1800s, why did industrialists support the gold standard?
The gold standard kept the price of gold flexible, which made the value of currency go up and down.
The gold standard kept the price of gold fixed, which kept both prices and wages down.
The gold standard kept the price of gold fixed, which caused wages to steadily increase.
The gold standard kept the price of gold flexible, which also made the price of silver flexible.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
The second choice. Under the gold standard the currency was tied to a fixed amount of gold, which limited the money supply and tended to produce deflation — keeping prices and wages low. That benefited industrialists (and creditors) by lowering labor costs and preserving the real value of investments.