Money and Banking

Contrary to what is commonly assumed, Austrian economics and Austrians scholars themselves are not necessarily in favor of gold-based monetary syst

The Free Market 32, no. 10 (October 2014)

It may seem unusual that an economist would talk about culture.

After 1910, Germany increasingly relied on fiat money to pay the bills. It wasn't just the Treaty of Versailles that eventually led to hyperinflation, but an all-too-common policy of turning to inflationary monetary policy. 

With European powers broke and economically ailing by 1916, World War One would have ended much sooner had the Federal Reserve and its cronies not stepped in to help England and France keep the bloodshed going. Meanwhile, US economic intervention led to a huge post-war bust in America.

The quasi-gold standard promoted by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames in their new book has more in common with the Bretton Woods system than with the classical gold standard. 

The Swedish central bank Riksbanken has

Efficient banks have many options for lenders and credit when banking crises hit. It's the inefficient and insolvent banks that must turn to a central bank. But do we really want central banks that reward insolvency and encourage inefficiency? 

Once interest rates begin to rise — and rise they must, whether as a result of Fed policy or not — the end of the asset price inflation will be at hand.  The result will be another financial crisis and accompanying recession.

How is socialism related to money? Money should be produced just like other goods through free markets. Central banks should not be controlling money, banking and credit.

In their new book Money, Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames write with insight about the dangers of inflation and easy money, but ultimately, they fail to follow through on their analysis and instead make peace with monetary expansionism.