Monetary Theory

Proposals for monetary reform are ubiquitous, but Murray N. Rothbard argued for the 100% gold coin standard.

Christopher Mayer explains why an Austrian analysis starts by examining the preceding boom phase of the business cycle.

Greenspan says the banks are in great shape. Frank Shostak, however, notes signs of deterioration.

Industry concentration is not usually a problem in the free market, writes Christopher Mayer. But the banking industry is hardly free.

Grant Nülle tells the story of a nation ruined by debt, fiscal profligacy, and paper money—with the IMF and the US as the enabler.

Robert Murphy recommends Sowell's latest book, though with reservations.

The current American current account deficit, writes Stefan Karlsson,reflects dangerous policy trends.

Boom, Bust, and the Future (26:23) January 18-19, 2002

Trade with China is beneficial to the U.S. economy, writes Grant Nülle, but grave danger lurks in the area of monetary policy. Beijing is furnishing cheap credit to finance Washington's fiscal deficit and consumer indebtedness in America, accentuating a misallocation of capital and investment priorities propagated by the Fed-backed fiat money. Meanwhile, China's four largest state-owned banks, which together claim 61% of the country's loans and 67% of its deposits, are saddled with mounting bad debts.

Though politics may yet trump sound economics on this issue, writes Sean Corrigan, the Europeans know they are being blackmailed by the US into pursuing dangerously loose monetary policy (to add to the loose fiscal policies already being practiced by some of their governments). The biggest global spendthrift—usually the US—always expects his creditors to cut their own pockets so he can settle his bills with the coins falling out of them.