Money and Banking

The housing bubble has been replaced by a number of new bubbles. Among them is the auto loan bubble. Car loans now last longer than ever and are going to more people with bad credit. This might not end well.

Populism was in the air this week as ranchers in the Western US opposed the spread of federally-owned lands, and reformers in Switzerland look to a referendum on fractional reserve banking.

Many people know that the Venezuelan economy is subject to byzantine price controls and other regulations. But on top of it all is a highly complex, bureaucratic, and damaging system of government-controlled monetary exchange rates.

Like the Greenspan Fed before it, the Yellen Fed has doubled down on easy money, but will trigger a crisis once it tries to inch toward more normal interest rates.

Happy New Year from everyone at the Mises Institute! After an exciting 2015 filled with important research and growth in our global reach, we look forward to 2016. We start the new year with a Mises Weekends from Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.

With a new funding package in place, the Jeddah Tower — on track to be to be the world’s next tallest skyscraper — is moving forward. Will it prove to be like the Burj Khalifa tower and signal the next bust?

The signatures have been collected and submitted paving the way for a vote to establish 100% reserve banking in Switzerland.

As an exciting year comes to a close, we want to thank all of our incredible members that allow us to do the work we do in advancing Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.

Former Mises Fellow and current economics professor Mateusz Machaj discusses free market reforms in Poland, central banking, and the lack of Polish appetite for joining the eurozone.

Even when a boom is obvious, it is still in the interests of individual owners and consumers to keep it going.