With Reverse Repos, The Fed Is Now Trying to Clean up Its Own Mess
This spring Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes asked Fed chair Jerome Powell, “And you believe the system, because of the oversight of the Fed, has the wherewithal to stand a…
Individualism and Western Civilization
In his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek, a future (1974) Nobel economics prize winner, spoke about “the individualist tradition which has created Western civilization” (p. 73 in…
A Brief History Of Secession Referenda in Europe
Scotland still hasn’t given up on holding another independence referendum within the next several years. Although London opposes the measure, it is notable that the debate over Scottish secession is…
In praise of “death panels”
As far as I know, neither political party has ever advocated “death panels”, that is, panels of experts that would deny Medicare coverage to FDA-approved treatments that don’t pass a…
Bitcoin's El Salvador Option
Saturday last, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, shook the bitcoin world when he announced he would make bitcoin legal tender in his country. The hype after that was…
There are no Solutions, only Trade-offs.
What is the outlook for black Americans today- is the black experience glass half full or half empty? Is racial discrimination the root of all problems in Black America? In…
Why the US Supports Secession for Africans, but Not for Americans
The twentieth century was a century of secession. Since the end of the Second World War, the number of independent states in the world has nearly tripled as new states,…
The Centrality of Exchange
Most government interventions consist in forbidding adult individuals (or their voluntary associations) to freely engage in acts of exchange: securities laws, antitrust laws, minimum-wage laws, maximum prices (like in “price…
Why Keynes Was Wrong about Unemployment
Large-scale unemployment is another name for a surplus in the labor market. Equilibrium is a state which markets will naturally move toward as buyers and sellers look for mutually advantageous…
When should NGDP be unstable?
Over time, the labor force (employed plus unemployed) usually tends to grow at a pretty stable rate. In addition, hourly wage rates are sticky, or slow to adjust to shocks.…