The controversy pitted the proponents of the gold standard led by Ludwig von Mises, Wilhelm Röpke, and F. A. Hayek against advocates of floating exchange rates, most saliently Milton Friedman, Fritz Machlup, and Gottfried Haberler. The advocates of flexible exchange rates eventually prevailed.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 411