All Posts Tagged With: "Keynes"

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Reading The Return of Depression Economics, I have to admit I was surprised. Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Prize winner in economics and New York Times columnist, isn’t as feisty and partisan in the book as he is in his column. Moreover, he presents some useful information about the many economic collapses that have occurred in [...]

18Nov2009 | William L. Anderson | 0 comments | Continued

The Depression You’ve Never Heard Of: 1920-1921

When it comes to diagnosing the causes of the Great Depression and prescribing cures for our present recession, the pundits and economists from the biggest schools typically argue about two different types of intervention. Big-government Keynesians, such as Paul Krugman, argue for massive fiscal stimulus—that is, huge budget deficits—to fill the gap in aggregate demand. [...]

18Nov2009 | Robert P. Murphy | 1 comment | Continued

World War II Ended the Great Depression?

In his 2008 book, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, Paul Krugman writes: “The Great Depression in the United States was brought to an end by a massive deficit-financed public works program, known as World War II.”
He has since repeated this bon mot in a number of columns and television appearances. [...]

23Oct2009 | Richard W. Fulmer | 6 comments | Continued

Human Action, 1949: A Dramatic Episode in Intellectual History

A great book, it has been remarked, is like a great castle. It can be viewed from many different angles, each offering a unique perspective. Viewing Ludwig von Mises’s monumental work from the vantage of 2009 permits one to see with great clarity one fascinating aspect of the book–the sheer drama of its emergence at [...]

19Aug2009 | Israel M. Kirzner | 3 comments | Continued

The Case for Capitalism

This article is from Henry Hazlitt’s September 19, 1949 Newsweek column.
There has just been published by the Yale University Press a book that is destined to become a landmark in the progress of economies. Its title is Human Action, and its author is Ludwig von Mises. It is the consummation of half a century of [...]

19Aug2009 | Henry Hazlitt | 0 comments | Continued

In Defense of Ideology

There have been many statements recently to the effect that we should not let “ideology” or “philosophy” stand in the way of solving our economic problems. Indeed, the Obama administration (like the previous Bush administration) is keen to persuade us to drop all this prejudice and to go after each problem–banking, stimulus, and so forth–on [...]

19Aug2009 | Mario Rizzo | 0 comments | Continued

Keynes’s Ghost

The multiplier argument is founded on two key assumptions that turn out to be false. First is the notion that savings are not spent but rather are withdrawn from the expenditure stream. The multiplier’s second incorrect premise is that government expenditures are “autonomous”; that is, government spending does not depend on current income.

9Jun2009 | James C. W. Ahiakpor | 3 comments | Continued

Real Jobs Create Wealth

If the government’s projects were truly worthwhile, they would be undertaken by private efforts, and in their quest for profits, entrepreneurs would handle them more efficiently.

Remember this when President Obama begins to boast about how successful his stimulus plan is.

21May2009 | John Stossel | 9 comments | Continued

Mainstream Macro in an Austrian Nutshell

While the events that have unfolded over the past year have required some outside-the-box theorizing by mainstream macroeconomists, the econo-mists of the Austrian school can offer a straightforward, fill-in-the-blanks explanation by drawing on the theory first articulated by Ludwig von Mises and then developed by Friedrich A. Hayek.

24Apr2009 | Roger W. Garrison | 10 comments | Continued

Recycling Discredited Ideas

The current financial crisis has fueled a frenzied recycling of discredited Keynesian ideas. We are hearing again of the need for “public works,” of the need to “stimulate” the economy. The Federal Reserve is frantically inflating the supply of money. We are laying the groundwork for a disaster reminiscent of the 1970s—if not worse.

1Apr2009 | Peter Lewin | 5 comments | Continued

John Maynard Keynes: The Damage Still Done by a Defunct Economist

Seventy years ago, on February 4, 1936, the English economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) published what soon became his most famous work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Few books, in so short a time, have gained such wide influence and generated so destructive an impact on public policy. What Keynes succeeded in [...]

1May2006 | Richard M. Ebeling | 32 comments | Continued

The Hayek-Keynes Debate: Lessons for Current Business Cycle Research by John P. Cochran and Fred R. Glahe

Edwin Mellen Press • 1999 • 200 pages • $89.95
Unlike some, this book’s title accurately reveals the theme and goal of the text. The authors have set for themselves an admirable task. In a book of only about 200 pages they review the debates that occurred during the 1930s between F. A. Hayek and John [...]

1Apr2000 | Larry J. Sechrest | 0 comments | Continued

The Great Swindle

We live in the Age of Inflation. It has become a fixed idea among governments that their paramount economic aim must be to maintain “full employment,” and that full employment can be maintained only by deficit financing, artificially cheap money, or direct recourse to the printing press.
Once under way, inflation sets in motion powerful [...]

20Nov2009 | Henry Hazlitt | 0 comments | Continued