Contrary to what is commonly assumed, Austrian economics and Austrians scholars themselves are not necessarily in favor of gold-based monetary systems. The problem with fiat money is not that it isn’t gold, but that it’s fiat money. In general, Austrians favor free-market money, which may or may...
Just when the current “discussion” on economics by public intellectuals like Paul Krugman hits bottom, Business Week decides to dig the hole even deeper by lionizing...
Reading the news, one could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that virtually all economists work for the government or the Fed, and that few of them have real (i.e., private sector) jobs. Of course, there are many practitioners of microeconomics who do an enormous amount of good in...
One of the more important monetary theorists of the mid to late 1900s, Leland Yeager, Ludwig von Mises Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Auburn University, recently turned 90. The Mises Institute last week hosted a reception his honor. ...
The debate over the Export-Import Bank continues, with the bank's friends in Congress and other high places claiming that the Bank serves an indispensable function in the American economy. Larry Summers, for instance,...
Milton Friedman and all monetarists after him claimed that the Gold Standard had a fatal flow. The Gold Standard required that gold be dug up, refined and then made into coins or stored away in vaults to back paper money in circulation. Therefore this gold was expensive and could not be used in...