# Is there a GQ response to the right wing marketing of gold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433 "2009-11-13T12:12:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 37
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/37 "2009-11-20T03:50:31Z")
As an investment, gold (or gold certificates) have a property that offsets its high volatility and low long-run returns. It might be negatively correlated with the stock market, such that it “zigs” when the stock market “zags”. In the technical parlance it may have a negative beta. (The paper below attacks this hypothesis, but it at least finds that gold is a near-zero beta asset.) For those interested in investing in gold… I’d recommend other investments. But if you’re really really adamant, you should at least read about its properties from someone other than a salesman or political commentator, right? Here’s a link: !PDF! : deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63919/1/fei\_fan\_2009.pdf > [@abstract from the link](#): > > This paper examines several of the explanations commonly provided regarding gold and its price movements. We consider the safe haven, inflation hedge, and dollar destruction hypotheses. The results are mixed. Our data do not support the theories that gold is a safe haven or an inflation hedge. We find that gold is a zero-beta asset and there is a strong negative correlation between gold and the value of the US dollar in the post Bretton-Woods era. The author characterizes gold as just another foreign currency, albeit one that doesn’t pay interest. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433)._