The Wall Street Journal ‘s David Wessel revealed the Fed’s strategy for dealing with an economic downturn in its August 3, 1998, edition: “The challenge for policy makers today isn’t how to respond to a stock-market crash, if one occurs. They know what to do; the lessons of ‘29 and ‘87 have been well-studied. The Fed would flood the economy with
From the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 29, 1998) Alan Greenspan Isn’t God The Federal Open Market Committee convenes today to resume the work of manipulating the federal-funds rate. This procedure is one of the most ill-conceived exercises in the history of price controls. Yet, as the boom of the 1990s attests, it is also one of the most popular. For
Here is a news piece from Investor’s Business Daily (Nov. 23, 1998) dealing squarely with one of the most interesting monetary issues of the day. The author quotes some well-known Austrian economists to help sort it all out. Are the vast amounts of U.S. currency held overseas a threat to the U.S. economy? Whether for spending or saving, most
Submitted to the Wall Street Journal October 14, 1998 To the Editor: What is missing in the debate between proponents of a fixed-exchange-rate regime, such as the editors of the Wall Street Journal (”Reforming the World,” 7 October), and proponents of a floating-exchange-rate system, like Milton Friedman (”Markets to the Rescue,” 13 October), is
Mark Thornton, adjunct scholar on the Mises Institute and economic advisor to the Office of the Governor, Alabama, writes the following response to an editorial in the Investor’s Business Daily on Japan. IBD correctly argued, with regard to Japan’s economic problems, that flooding the market with newly credited money is no solution. However, in
The Free Market 16, no. 5 (May 1998) Winter’s economic crisis in Asia was blamed on “go-go capitalism” and “crony capitalism,” but those explanations don’t get to the root cause. The Asian meltdown stems from structural defects deep within the world monetary system itself. These are defects that no amount of bailouts, exchange controls, IMF
The Free Market 16, no. 11 (November 1998) As the world financial system entered a state of collapse, commentators said that Russia had traded the shortages of socialism for the bank runs and financial panics of capitalism. In fact, modern finance and banking are built on unstable, socialistic foundations. Central Banking . Earlier in this
Is It Really Rothbard? Mises Review 4, No. 3 (Fall 1998) MONEY AND NATION STATE Kevin Dowd and Richard H. Timberlake, Jr., Editors Transaction Publishers, 1998, viii + 453 pgs. When I received this book, I turned first to the contribution of Murray N. Rothbard, “The Gold Exchange Standard in the Interwar Years” (pp. 105-65). It is a
Investor’s Business Daily September 3, 1998 Perspective “Dollar Contrarians” The Federal Reserve says that more than half of all U.S. currency is now held overseas. The dollar has now become the currency of choice for much of the world. And it has replaced gold as the global financial standard. That has some economists worried. “What happens if
Economists Say Politicians Can’t Resist Inflation Investor’s Business Daily Date: 11/17/98 Author: Michael Chapman Central banks are supposed to be independent - immune from political pressures. But bankers in Asia and Russia aren’t acting that way. Recent economic slowdowns have led to one response: inflation. German politicians are leaning on
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The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
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