The European Central Bank yesterday, in the words of The Washington Post, "announced that it would buy the bonds of struggling governments without limit" (emphasis added). But that can really only mean “without an announced limit.” There is an implicit limit so long as ECB sticks to…
1. With all the recent talk, much of it poorly informed, about the gold standard, I decided to post on SSRN a draft of my paper, "The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States," written for an upcoming Hillsdale College Forum. 2. I'm…
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…