El patrón oro es un sistema monetario que fija el valor de la unidad monetaria en términos de una determinada cantidad de oro. El emisor de la divisa garantiza que pueda dar al poseedor de sus billetes la cantidad de oro consignada en ellos. Una alternativa es el patrón bimetálico, en el que la moneda está respaldada por una parte de oro y otra de plata. Históricamente, la vigencia del patrón oro imperó durante el siglo XIX como base del sistema financiero internacional. Terminó a raíz de la Primera Guerra Mundial, puesto que los gobiernos beligerantes necesitaron imprimir mucho dinero fiduciario para financiar el esfuerzo bélico sin tener la capacidad de respaldar ese dinero en metal precioso. Durante los Acuerdos de Bretton Woods, se decidió adoptar el dólar estadounidense como divisa internacional, bajo la condición de que la Reserva Federal (el banco central de ese país) sostuviera el patrón oro. Pero a partir de 1971, el mismo se quiebra definitivamente, por lo que el valor del dólar pasa a sostenerse exclusivamente en la confianza que le dan sus poseedores.

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A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Three types can be distinguished: specie, bullion, and exchange. \n* In the gold specie standard the monetary unit is associated with the value of circulating gold coins or the monetary unit has the value of a certain circulating gold coin, but other coins may be made of less valuable metal. \n* The gold bullion standard is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price in exchange for the circulating currency. \n* The gold exchange standard usually does not involve the circulation of gold coins. The main feature of the gold exchange standard is that the government guarantees a fixed exchange rate to the currency of another country that uses a gold standard (specie or bullion), regardless of what type of notes or coins are used as a means of exchange. This creates a de facto gold standard, where the value of the means of exchange has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent value of the means of exchange itself. Most nations abandoned the gold standard as the basis of their monetary systems at some point in the 20th century, although many hold substantial gold reserves. An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, according to GFMS as of 2012. This is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres (327,000 cu ft), or a cube 21 metres (69 ft) on a side. There are varying estimates of the total volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years. Another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the gold output in illegal mining activities. World production for 2011 was at 2,700 tonnes. Since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth of around 2x, although far less than world economic growth of some 8x, or some 4x since 1980.

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