The gold standard is a monetary system that has existed for most of the history of human civilization. One can formulate a kind of historical law: if gold was mined in a certain region, or if it had trade relations with regions in which gold was mined, then sooner or later a monetary system based on gold coins would be established in this region. Historians write about the two-thousand-year history of gold money. For comparison: the modern monetary system based on fiat (gold or silver) paper money has existed only since the early 70s of the twentieth century, when Richard Nixon “closed the gold window,” i.e. only 40 years old. Recently, projects for the establishment of gold money have been increasingly discussed in the world (for example, projects of a gold dinar in Arab countries or a gold currency in Southeast Asia). In the near future, in connection with the global economic crisis, the discussion of alternative monetary systems will inevitably intensify. The essays included in this collection describe the historical and theoretical aspects of the gold standard, and analyze alternative projects for reform of the modern monetary system.