According to the popular view, the revival of some important economic indicators has raised the likelihood that the aggressive lowering of interest rates by the Fed will invigorate the economy. The irony is that the very same loose monetary policies that are expected to energize the economy in fact undermine its main source of strength.
In attempting an outlook for the year ahead--and those of the Austrian School firmly believe all such endeavours are an exercise in futility--Sean Corrigan sets out a brief theoretical framework, predicting likely market phenomena and official policy actions, and presenting factors that could derail his predictions.
Even without the war, we are doing everything wrong that the Hoover-Roosevelt-McDonald governments and the Strong-Norman bankers did in the 1930s, after their long decade of easy money and paper prosperity imploded under the weight of too much debt and too great a strain on real capital resources.
Prior to the Keynesian era, recessions were called panics and had durations of about three months. The shortness in duration reflected the lack of interventionism by extra-market authorities. Today, recessions last much longer, as the bad idea that the state should manage the economy has become legitimized.
Is there any merit to the popular definition of recession? Why must it be two quarters of negative growth and not one, or perhaps three? Frank Shostak gives another view and assesses the prospects for recovery.
The recent World Trade Center disaster may provide some economic opportunities for small, select groups, but the vast majority of people—including most New Yorkers—will be left worse off than before.
Why would some folks hate globalization as it is properly understood and conceived? Tibor Machan explains.
Forbes magazine's Peter Brimelow and Edwin Rubenstein ask, "Does Hayek’s Law condemn the U.S. economy to a Japanese-like L-shaped recession?" John Cochran responds.
The Bush administration's new duty on Canadian softwood lumber imports could dynamite the nation's housing.
It is the inevitable consequence of Fed interest-rate manipulations to disturb, disrupt, and disarrange economic activity, writes Hans Sennholz.
