Capital and Interest Theory

Bob talks with professor Matt McCaffrey about a soon-to-be-published, never-before-seen manuscript by Frank Fetter, surveying the history of economic thought from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill.

Mainstream economists believe that a market economy is by definition internally unstable. Austrians argue that the instability comes from outside intervention. Thus, Austrians can explain what is happening while others simply describe the events.

Using Randall Wray's classroom "buckaroo" currency, Bob shows how MMT thinks about money, and the claim that a fiat currency's natural rate of interest is zero.

While mainstream economists add an “inflation premium” to interest rates, Murray Rothbard looked at the complete picture, knowing that the real rate of interest dealt with many factors within the structure of production.

Keynesian theory says that the way to end a recession in which the economy is in a “liquidity trap” is for government to ramp up spending. Murray Rothbard demonstrated that this policy actually blocks an economic recovery.

Bob returns to the fractional reserve banking debate to clarify a point the critics keep missing: in the Mises-Hayek-Rothbard framework, it's fractional reserve banking itself that sets the boom-bust cycle in motion, not merely central banks.

Mainstream economists tend to think of cash balances as the heart of new savings. Actually, real savings involves much more than that.

In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan sits down with Mark Thornton to talk through the economic trends fueling today's unrest.

The Singer Building and the panic of 1907. The Empire State and the Depression. The Burj Khalifa and 2008. Lucas Engelhardt on why the world's tallest buildings keep opening at exactly the wrong moment.

Two of the best American Austrians feuded over a book review, trained no successors, and their school quietly died out. Paul Cwik and Shawn Ritenour on the Austrians you may not know, and the ones we almost lost.