An Impressionistic View of the 'Real' Price of Gold Around the World

The “real” price of gold in the U.S. is historically high, relative to its history as an actively tradable asset. But what about the real price of gold in other countries? It turns out that, in our impressionistic sample of 23 countries, the real price of gold is high everywhere. The real price of gold is high in “troubled” countries as well as in “safe” countries. If the real price of gold is a barometer of perceived troubles then there is trouble everywhere. Or, alternatively, gold is just expensive everywhere. This research is motivated by our earlier paper, Erb and Harvey (2012), "http://ssrn.com/abstract=2078535" The Golden Dilemma