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Tag Archives: fiscal
Sure, Evidence Looks Keynesian If That’s How You Doctor It
In his most recent op-ed, “That ’30s Feeling”, Paul Krugman draws parallels between current calls for austerity and the Germany of the 1930s. This time, factual history is against Krugman’s thesis. Germany’s collapse in the early 1930s was hinged on debt and the inability of their central bank to pay for it. Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged debt, Depression, fiscal, Germany, Government, Great, Krugman, Stimulus
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Irrelevance of Fiscal Austerity
Krugman remains bewildered at the G20’s call for fiscal austerity by pointing out that slashing stimulus spending is not bound to have a major impact on debt growth and that such a policy could have long-term harmful side effects. The latter concern is legitimate, at least if you believe that Keynesian countercyclical fiscal policy is the correct prescription for our current recession, but I feel that Krugman leaves out a few key details. Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Theory
Tagged austerity, countercyclical, debt, fiscal, Krugman, policy, Stimulus
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Bernanke Risks Stirring the Pot
Ben Bernanke supports low interest-rates, but not government spending. Continue reading
U.S. Postal Service: Another Government Failure
The postal service is yet another example of how government monopolies are inefficient. Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged failure, fiscal, Government, Krugman, monopoly, office, post
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Dan Mitchell on Stimulus Spending
Dan Mitchell’s educational video on stimulus spending, and why a second stimulus would be disastrous. Continue reading
The Dangerous “Lessons” of 1937
The recession of 1937 provides a perfect case study to offer a vision of the future based on our current fiscal and monetary policies. It turns out that high government spending and intervention, mated with an inflationary monetary policy, caused the severe downturn of 1937. We are headed down that same road. Continue reading
On Unemployment and Industrial Restructuring
Krugman, once again, fails to take into all the factors in his mental calculations. This time he fails to make an objective critique of Schumpeter’s and the neo-classical theory on unemployment and fiscal spending. Continue reading
Posted in Theory
Tagged Classical, fiscal, Government, Keynesian, Krugman, Neo-Classical, Schumpeter, spending, Stimulus, Unemployment
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Neither Keynes nor Friedman
The Federal Reserve did try to bailout banks during the Great Depression, Hoover did outspend every prior president in an attempt to stimulate the economy and no recession is caused by a drop in aggregate demand. These are Keynesian myths. Continue reading
Interesting Graphs on Fiscal Spending and Economic Growth
Here are a collection of graphs showing the relationship between fiscal spending and economic growth. They are from different articles I have read on the internet and from a presentation given by Dan Mitchell, given during Cato University 2009. Although I won’t give a more specific argument against fiscal spending in this post, I am open to comments about it and am willing to reply. Continue reading
Comment on Austrian Historicism
Two things Austrians must remember concerning the Great Depression and the Depression of 1920 are that monetary policy today is much different and there was no liquidity trap in 1920. Continue reading →