[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2009-02-04 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
There might be a reason to keep reserves of commodities which have a real value like oil or food, but not gold. What are you going to do with gold reserves in a world of floating exchange rates? Much more sensible to have a basket of foreign currency reserves.

[identity profile] tigerfort.livejournal.com 2009-02-07 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Sell them to computer companies?

(Not a serious suggestion, given the tiny amount of gold you need for a typical computer. But it does have more industrial uses than you might think, and many of them are vital to a modern economy. Of course, since Britain doesn't manufacture anything any more....)