The Great Depression in Britain versus the current slump Great Depression (1929-31) Current (since 2008) Length of contraction 6 quarters (1930Q2-1931Q3) 6 quarters (2008Q2-2009Q3) Time to surpass previous peak output 4 years (1930Q1-1934Q1) 4 years plus (since 2008Q1) Monetary policy Gold standard (to September 1931 trough), then…
David Glasner has fallen into Krugman’s Bog, a poorly mapped but vast region of the Internet where the choler is so thick one cannot slog through it. David’s post is called “Where Does Paul Ryan Go When He Thinks About Monetary Policy?” The answer, he thinks, is Ayn…
I don't believe I've shared this lecture here, so I will remedy that. This is a talk I gave in December of 2009 at George Mason University in which I explore the history of banking in the US, the theoretical arguments against central banking, and then the…
Commenting on the appearance of the 100th issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, its founding editor, Joseph Stiglitz, remarks (page 22) that a diversity of perspectives is “especially important in a field known for having certain orthodoxies—orthodoxies that dominate for a while and then fade, making…
Scott Sumner writes, "I don’t object to people noting that Bretton Woods had some characteristics of the gold standard; I’ve made that argument myself. But I wish the gold bugs would get the story straight. Half of them seem to think the US monetary system of the 1920s wasn’t really…