Tag Archives: Reserve

Krugman on Price Stability and Deflation

Krugman writes on disinflation versus deflation, and how the former is more frequent than the latter. He then suggests the Federal Reserve should temporarily drop its role of achieving price stability, instead focusing on full employment. I argue that the Fed should step off altogether. Continue reading

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Fed Set on Debt Monetization

The Federal Reserve begins to monetize government debt, hoping to combat deflation. Continue reading

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Interest Rates: 1920-21 Depression

A rise in the discount rate does not necessarily suggest a decrease in the supply of money, or even a fall in the pace of expansion. Any objective look at the Depression of 1920 should not focus only on the Federal Reserve’s discount rate. Continue reading

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The Fed and Economic Stability

Cristina Romer shows that the post-war era was not much more stable than the pre-war era, even the periods prior to the foundation of the Federal Reserve. Furthermore, statistics in Romer’s paper shows how the “Long Depression” of the late-19th century was actually an era of economic prosperity. Continue reading

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Déjà vu?

The current global debt crisis is looking very similar to that of the 1930s. Continue reading

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Ending the Bank Failure

A 30 April letter to the editor of the New York Times on bank failures, the bank tax and the elimination of the Federal Reserve. Continue reading

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Jon Stewart on Banks, Deposits and Money

Some excellent quotes on fractional-reserve banking and regulation. Continue reading

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There is no hope…

Paul Krugman shows his colors, and many of his readers don’t have any clue on economic theory or logic. Continue reading

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Hayek, the Business Cycle and the Financial System

In “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle” Hayek holds that the business cycle is caused by fractional-reserve banking, which is a natural credit organization formed out of the market. If this is the case, then it follows that economic cycles are an intrinsic part of capitalism. Continue reading

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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

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