How Do You Value Gold?

I’d welcome any feedback on these questions since I have no idea of the answer: How should one determine the price of gold? What are the variables or ratios that someone ought to use?
I have to say that I have no idea how to make a judgment on the price of gold. It seems to me to completely irrational and that’s why I like to avoid it. With an asset like a bond, you can input a few variables and try to determine if the current yield is too high or too low. Of course, your assumptions may be wrong, but you can plainly see what went wrong.
With stocks, there are all sorts of models to determine value. These can also be wrong, and many are, but at least everyone knows what a P/E Ratio is. But for gold, I have no idea where to start.
Part of this I have to blame on gold bugs who seem to be overwhelmingly irrational and incoherent. I apologize to the more thoughtful gold bulls but your voices are drowned out by the mob.
The only argument I can make out is that gold will go higher because we’re bankrupt and the dollar is worthless. But does that justify any price? At what point could that argument still hold up, yet the price is simply too high? I get the feeling that few gold bugs have ever considered that question.
Are there metrics that you can point to that show how gold’s price should have plunged for over $800 in 1980 to around $250 in 2001, then to over $1,000 last March? My feeling is that a huge weighting to the price of gold is undefinable speculation. It just is and there’s no way to make sense of it.
Any ideas?

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on April 7th, 2009 at 12:09 pm

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