Money and Banking

Jeff Deist and Peter St. Onge discuss some of the fundamental questions about money in this electronic age.

In January 2014, 33 Russian rubles exchanged for 1 dollar. In December 2014, the amount has more than doubled, reaching 77.2 rubles per dollar. At the bottom of it lie the actions of the Bank of Russia. 

If cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are being used as money, and if Carl Menger correctly tells us that money must have some kind of antecedent value, then as economists it becomes our job to discover what exactly is that antecedent value. A fresh reading of Menger's Regression Theorem provides several insights.

The US dollar’s days as a global reserve currency are numbered, but there is no high-quality replacement available. If there were an ideal reserve currency for the world, this is what it would look like.

Many economists still believe that wealth can be created by simply convincing people to buy more stuff through loose monetary policy. What is really needed, though, is wealth creation, and then there is never a shortage of demand. 

A quick look at some coverage of the Swiss gold initiative.

Interest rates are like prices, and the state should not regulate interest rates any more than it should regulate the price of soda. Regulation will lead to overuse of resources, shortages, and distorted markets. 

Household consumer credit continues to explode.

G-20 nations rubber-stamp plans to have you bail out the too-big-to-fail banks.

Tiny houses are a growing phenomenon as potential homeowners look to cut down on housing costs in the face of an economy rife with booms, busts, and spiking asset prices.