Archive for Mark Skousen
Mark Skousen is the editor of Forecasts & Strategies, author of The Making of Modern Economics, and producer of FreedomFest. He is a former president of FEE.
A Golden Comeback, Part III
“A free gold market . . . reflects and measures the extent of the lack of confidence in the domestic currency.” —Ludwig von Mises In the past two columns, I’ve highlighted the uses and misuses of gold. Despite occasional calls for a return to a gold standard, the Midas metal has largely lost out to [...]
1Nov1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedA Golden Comeback, Part II
“Gold maintains its purchasing power over long periods of time, for example, half-century intervals.” —Roy Jastram, The Golden Constant[1] In last month’s column, I focused on gold’s inherent stability as a monetary numeraire. Historically, the monetary base under gold has neither declined nor increased too rapidly. In short, it has operated very closely to a [...]
1Oct1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedA Golden Comeback, Part I
“A more timeless measure is needed; gold fits the bill perfectly.” —Mark Mobius When speaking of the Midas metal, I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s refrain, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” After years of central-bank selling and a bear market in precious metals, the Financial Times recently declared the “Death of Gold.” But [...]
1Sep1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedWhat’s Left of Marxism?
Communism as a political movement may be dead, but Marxism as an intellectual movement lives on. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx and Frederick Engel’s profound polemic, Manifesto of the Communist Party.
1Aug1998 | Mark Skousen | 2 comments | ContinuedMilton Friedman, Ex-Keynesian
“I had completely forgotten how thoroughly Keynesian I then was.” —Milton Friedman[1] What?! The world’s most famous free-market economist a former Keynesian? Yes, it’s true. One of the more remarkable revelations in Milton and Rose Friedman’s new autobiography, Two Lucky People, is Milton Friedman’s flirtation with Keynesian economics in the early 1940s. During his stint [...]
1Jul1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedGreat Turnabouts in Economics, Part II
“I used to love hedgehogs but those were ‘my salad days when I was green in judgement’. Now I prefer foxes—Smith over Ricardo, Mill over Senior, Marshall over Walras.” —Mark Blaug[1] Last November, I reported on three economists who courageously reversed their published views. Now, I’d like to add a fourth: Mark Blaug. He is [...]
1Jun1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedToday’s Most Influential Economist?
Fill in the blank. Who is the mysterious economist named above? Most of my colleagues named Milton Friedman, but in Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw’s bestseller, the Chicago economist runs a close second to. . . .
F.A. Hayek, the Austrian economist!
Why Hayek? Because,
1May1998 | Mark Skousen | 2 comments | ContinuedFree Marketers Miss Opportunity at AEA Meetings
Dr. Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department of Economics, Winter Park, Florida 32789, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies, one of the largest investment newsletters in the country. The third edition of his book Economics of a Pure Gold Standard has recently been published by FEE. People saved more and we had a [...]
1Apr1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedHow Real Is the Asian Economic Miracle? A Reprise
“In retrospect, all fools become wise.” —Ludwig von Mises In the November/December 1994 issue of Foreign Affairs, Stanford economist Paul Krugman wrote a controversial article titled “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle.” He argued that, like Stalinist Russia and other centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, the Southeast Asian nations were authoritarian and engaged in “growth [...]
1Apr1998 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedSamuelson’s Last Hurrah
As readers of The Freeman know, this column has documented the dramatic changes in Samuelson’s thinking over the past few years.[1] Along with the rest of the economics mainstream, he has shifted gradually from standard Keynesian analysis to the Classical model of Adam Smith.
1Mar1998 | Mark Skousen | 2 comments | ContinuedVienna and Chicago: A Tale of Two Schools
Since its inception, the Foundation for Economic Education has been associated with two free-market schools, the Austrian school of Ludwig von Mises and, to a lesser extent, the Chicago school of Milton Friedman. Mises, after leaving Vienna for New York City, was closely involved with Leonard Read, FEE’s founder. He spoke frequently at FEE’s headquarters in Irvington-on-Hudson, and wrote regularly for The Freeman.
1Feb1998 | Mark Skousen | 2 comments | ContinuedWhy Are Austrians Unusually Bearish?
“Can capitalism survive? No. I do not think it can. . . .Can socialism work? Of course it can.” —Joseph A. Schumpeter[1] When the financial markets went into a tailspin in late October 1997, my doomsday colleagues appeared gleeful. “The bear [market] has begun,” predicted Gary North. “It isn’t going to end for about 10 [...]
1Jan1998 | Mark Skousen | 2 comments | ContinuedBest Textbooks for a Free-Market University
Mark Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department of Economics, Winter Park, Florida 32789, a Forbes columnist, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies. He is also the author of Economics on Trial (Irwin, 1993), a review of the top ten textbooks in economics. He is currently working on his own textbook, Economic Logic. “I [...]
1Dec1997 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedGreat Turnabouts in Economics
We can only admire the scholar who is willing to change when he is convinced by the facts or a new theory. It takes a strong dose of courage and honesty to go against one’s vested interest, especially after publishing books and articles on the subject.
1Nov1997 | Mark Skousen | 1 comment | ContinuedPreaching to the Choir
Dr. Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department of Economics, Winter Park, Florida 32789, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies, one of the largest investment newsletters in the country. “Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.” —Poor Richard’s Almanac This past summer I attended the annual meetings of the Eris Society, an [...]
1Oct1997 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedGetting Published: An Austrian Triumph
Dr. Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department of Economics, Winter Park, Florida 32789, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies, one of the largest investment newsletters. A reprint of “The Perseverance of Paul Samuelson’s Economics” (including Professor Samuelson’s response) is available from FEE for $3.00, postpaid. “[Austrian economists] feel they’ve been frozen out of [...]
1Sep1997 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedHas Capitalism Failed or Succeeded? The Tale of Two Graphs
The Great Depression of the 1930s brought us Keynesian economics and a broad shift in emphasis from the classical study of economic growth to concern about economic fluctuations and how to subdue the boom-bust business cycle. Postwar textbooks, led by Paul Samuelson’s Economics, focused primarily on the ups and downs of the capitalist system and how government policy could ameliorate the business cycle.
1Aug1997 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | Continued-
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