Business Cycles

For a while, some economists tried to claim that business cycles are the result of significant changes in technology. The Austrians have a better explanation.

Bob uses U.S. economic history, centering on the greenback era, to work through some subtle but important distinctions in Austrian monetary theory.

Intervention begets intervention. This was the case following the American Revolution, as the consequences of inflation, credit expansion, and wartime disruptions set up for the depression of 1784 in peacetime.

Intervention begets intervention. This was the case following the American Revolution, as the consequences of inflation, credit expansion, and wartime disruptions set up for the depression of 1784 in peacetime.

The two great confusions about money and interest, from Aristotle’s “money cannot beget money” to modern credit expansion, and how monetary manipulation by banks and governments produces inflation and the business cycle.

In the wake of Alan Greenspan's recent passing, Bob revisits two contested claims about his legacy: did the Fed under Greenspan fuel the housing bubble, and did that bubble cause the 2008 financial crisis? 

This week, Bob walks through three thought experiments to show how expectations of future supply changes ripple into present prices and production decisions in ways that purely mechanical monetary frameworks like MV=PQ can't capture.

Bob sits down with researcher Robert Aro to review his recent Mises.org article on why the widely anticipated post-QT crash never materialized.

Mises described the problem, Hayek proposed the direction, Kirzner explains why the market will not stop. And the market, as so many times before, has already found the first step.

Mises described the problem, Hayek proposed the direction, Kirzner explains why the market will not stop. And the market, as so many times before, has already found the first step.