Book excerpt: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." -John Maynard Keynes, A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923) A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923), by British economist John Maynard Keynes, is a masterly analysis of the world monetary situation at the beginning of the twentieth century. Keynes stated the importance of stable domestic prices and a stable currency for a strong economy, while arguing against the gold standard, which at that time was used for the US dollar and many other currencies. Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931-after it had re-established it in 1925-and the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1933. A Tract on Monetary Reform is essential reading for anyone interested in Keynes' theories and for students of economics or economic history.