Is gold a good investment?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Is gold a good investment?
Position1 of 3›: No, gold is a terrible investment

This position holds that gold is a terrible investment. It argues gold does not grow like a company, pays no dividends or yield, and contributes nothing to economic growth, while its value is volatile and its monetary status rests on tradition rather than logic.

Supporting arguments · 4

Gold doesn't grow, unlike investments in companies
It is much better to own a business like Coca Cola or Starbucks that can grow over time than gold, which can never grow or change. Stocks will compound money, but gold can't.
The value of gold is highly volatile and can easily collapse
Gold is highly volatile and trades like a long-dated zero coupon bond, so it's value has very big swings up and down based on real rates. Gold is a very risky investment with a high standard of deviation.
The use of gold as currency is based on tradition, not logic
The economist John Maynard Keynes famously called gold a “barbarous relic”, suggesting that its usefulness as money or a standard of currency is an artifact of the past. There do not seem to be any major benefits gained from implementing the gold standard into the current economy. It severely impedes the government's ability to help the country during times of recession.
Gold produces no dividends or yield and does not contribute to economic growth
Buying gold is the oldest kind of investing activity and the one about which opinions are most polarized. Unlike bonds which pay a coupon, or stocks which pay a dividend, gold has no yield. It can never return any coupon or dividends to an investor. Gold produces no dividends or yield.