The research was by St. Louis Fed economist Fernando Martin. Curiously, his study precisely shows that the gold standard did indeed tame inflation.

Let's investigate Martin's bogus claim and his peculiar logic in making it.

In his email to the WSJ, Martin stated: "Most of the price increase in the period starting with World War II is due to two specific episodes."

WWII was the first episode and the "1970s inflation episode was unambiguously the result of Fed policy blunders." Supposedly, "the lessons learned from the experience helped central bankers start a multi-decadelong effort to lower inflation to historically low levels."

I cannot tell if the second set of quotes is the WSJ view or Martin's.