All Posts Tagged With: "central banking"

Ninety Years of Monetary Central Planning in the United States

Ninety years ago this month, on December 23, 1913, the Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act, establishing a national central-banking system in the United States. The governing board of the Federal Reserve was organized on August 12, 1914, and the Federal Reserve banks opened for operation on November 16, 1914. On the surface, the preamble [...]

1Dec2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World’s Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets

Reviewed by Larry Schweikart Martin Mayer has been writing books on banking for years, and never lacks for a publisher. His books tend to ramble, however, and this one is no exception. Worse, they tend to reinforce erroneous notions about the supposed need for government intervention in financial markets and institutions. Mayer begins with a [...]

1Aug2002 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Economy Is Cyclical?

According to a memorable title, “Business Cycles Aren’t What They Used to Be—and Never Were” (Gerald Sirkin, Lloyd’s Bank Review, v. 104, 1972). In today’s political and economic environment, we need to be clear about which characteristics endure and which ones can and do change over time. We might begin with a reminder about characteristics [...]

1Sep2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

America’s Great Depression by Murray N. Rothbard

Ludwig von Mises Institute · 2000 · 368 pages · $29.00 Reviewed by Roger W. Garrison It may not be conventional to review the fifth edition of a book that appears several years after its author’s passing. But America’s Great Depression is not a conventional book. It is written with verve and aplomb. And its [...]

1Sep2001 | | 1 comment | Continued

Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism by George Soros

Public Affairs · 2000 · 369 pages · $26.00 Reviewed by Pierre Lemieux In his latest book, Open Society, retired billionaire speculator George Soros continues to argue against capitalism and its justification in economic theory. The book doesn’t put a dent in capitalism, but shows that billionaire financiers don’t necessarily understand the first thing about [...]

1Sep2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

Rising Oil Prices Create Inflation?

With oil prices rising rapidly and the euro and the Australian dollar declining sharply (to name only two currencies to fall persistently), it appears that a rough road is ahead for the world’s economies. Perhaps the biggest concern for those countries which import oil is that a new wave of inflation will sweep over them. [...]

1Apr2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

Final Comment on Salerno’s Monetary Program

I am not going to re-argue the points of difference between Salerno’s arguments and mine in this final rejoinder. The reader must decide for himself which parts if any of our respective views are most logical and most useful in dealing with the events under scrutiny. I find that nothing in Salerno’s final account refutes [...]

1Sep2000 | | 1 comment | Continued

Economics on Trial

In today’s robust global economy, the wheat represents genuine prosperity—the new products, technologies, and productivity generated by capitalists and entrepreneurs. It represents real economic growth and when harvested, reflects a true higher standard of living for everyone. Under such conditions, stock prices are likely to rise.

1Sep2000 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Government Is the Stabilizer?

Stability is the perennial issue in macroeconomics. The economist’s judgment about the stability of the market economy stems from what Joseph Schumpeter called the “pre-analytic vision.” To illustrate the point, Schumpeter specifically used John Maynard Keynes and his pre-analytic vision: Markets are inherently unstable; the government is the stabilizer. This belief, or vision, was held [...]

1Jan2000 | | 2 comments | Continued

The Fed Sets Interest Rates?

Newspaper headlines across the country on July 1 provided some bad news for consumers: “Fed moves to raise interest rates.” Associated Press writer Martin Crutsinger explained: “The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in two years.., nudging borrowing costs higher for millions of American consumers and businesses …. At the conclusion of [...]

1Dec1999 | | 2 comments | Continued

Money and Gold in the 1920s and 1930s: An Austrian View

Joseph Salerno is a professor of economics in the Lubin School of Business at Pace University. In consecutive issues of The Freeman, Richard Timberlake has contributed an interesting trilogy of articles advancing a monetarist critique of the conduct of U.S. monetary policy during the 1920s and 1930s.[1] In the first of these articles, Timberlake disputes [...]

1Oct1999 | | 7 comments | Continued

Money and the Nation State: The Financial Revolution, Government and the World Monetary System

Bert Ely is a financial institutions and monetary policy consultant in Alexandria, Virginia. This is a book on a vital—and much misunderstood—topic. It is sometimes excellent, but largely disappointing. The book consists of 13 chapters divided into three sections: The History of the Modern International Monetary System, Modern Money and Central Banking, and Foundations for [...]

1Jun1999 | | 1 comment | Continued

Gold Policy in the 1930s

Richard Timberlake is a professor of economics retired from the University of Georgia and author of Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History (University of Chicago Press, 1993). This is the second in a series. Between 1929 and 1933, the Federal Reserve System, which is the central bank of the United [...]

1May1999 | | 1 comment | Continued

Money in the 1920s and 1930s

Richard Timberlake is a professor of economics retired from the University of Georgia, and author of Monetary Policy in the United States, An Intellectual and Institutional History (University of Chicago Press, 1993). This article is the first in a series. One of the most enduring and troublesome mysteries in economics is money: how it is [...]

1Apr1999 | | 3 comments | Continued

Abolish Legal Tender

Alex Moseley teaches economics at the University of Evansville’s British campus at Harlaxton Manor. An advertisement in an English newspaper offers a one-million-dollar bill for sale—at the remarkably reduced price of £29.95 (about $50.00). However, this great deal comes with the words “Not Legal Tender.” Thereby the advertisement unwittingly presents the essential problem of national [...]

1Feb1999 | | 3 comments | Continued

We Need a Global Fed?

Some economic pundits see every instance of economic disorder as proof of the defects of capitalism and of the need for more extensive government regulation of the economy. It never seems to cross their minds that government regulations might even destabilize markets. A recent example of such thinking comes from Jeffrey E. Garten, dean of [...]

1Feb1999 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Great Pretenders

William McChesney Martin, Jr., who was chairman of the Federal Reserve from the Truman through the Nixon years, died last summer. According to the New York Times obituary, Martin hated inflation and deficits. Further, he had a reputation for jealously guarding the Fed’s independence and resisting presidential and congressional pressure to lower interest rates. Before [...]

1Nov1998 | | 0 comments | Continued
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