Editor's Note: Since I've been harping on the ways in which Modern Monetary Theory misrepresents institutional realities, I thought it worthwhile to republish the following essay by occasional Alt-M contributor Julien Noizet, from his personal blog Spontaneous Finance. The essay originally appeared on December 17, 2013. Two…
Monetarism is often misunderstood, overlooked, forgotten, or even derided. Yet its basic logic, resting on the quantity theory of money, is evident and remains important in a world of pure fiat monies. Most major central banks have abandoned monetary targeting in favor of setting interest rates to…
If you're a regular Alt-M reader (and may the frost never afflict your spuds if you are), I needn't tell you that I'm the last person to exalt the pre-2008 Federal Reserve System. Among other things, I blame that system for fueling the 2003-2006 boom, and for…
George Selgin’s latest monetary policy primer was a very good explanation of the money multiplier in fractional reserve banking systems. He also suggested that a number of factors may be affecting the current surprisingly low level of the multiplier; a fact that prompted a number of endogenous…