That's no surprise. Currencies only started being floated in the late 20th century. It doesn't mean the gold standard worked well - it was just the prevailing system before Bretton Woods.
Yes, fiat currencies. In purchasing parity terms, the 30 years before WW1 (gold standard) where as globalized and productive as we were before 2008. I think it is dangerous to attribute our wealth to the management of centralized money managers. I`m all for competition (please let me fail with my stupid barbaric gold money). It`s them who are not.
I never attributed wealth growth to money managers. Productivity is the cause of genuine wealth growth. There are advantages and disadvantages to floating fiat currencies - it's easier to respond to recessions with monetary policy but you have problems with higher than optimal inflation and bubbles/corrections. The classic gold standard leads to liquidity and balance of payments problems, deflationary danger and depressions. IMO floating fiat is the lesser of two evils but it needs constant oversight, adequate regulation of the financial system and hedging against inept elected officials and central bankers.
I was talking about the importance of liquidity and credit to commerce. IMO cryptocurrencies incentivise hoarding which makes it bad as a primary currency for trade but a good future inflation hedge like the current position of gold.