Money and Banking

Economist Philipp Bagus talks with us from Europe about the Swiss franc, the euro, and what the future holds for the debt-laden governments of the Eurozone.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard details the increasing level of Greek defiance to its ECB overlords in the wake of a left-wing, populist uprising in recent Greek elections.

Paul-Martin Foss at the Carl Menger Center for the Study of Money and Banking has penned a nice retort to Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, who recently criticized Rand Paul's introduction of an "Audit the Fed" bill in the US Senate.

The European Central Bank is ramping up its easy-money policies in an effort to spur inflation, which it hopes will improve the economy.

The European Central Bank is ramping up its easy-money policies in an effort to spur inflation, which it hopes will improve the economy. The wealthy and powerful will benefit from this, but most everyone else is in big trouble.

The Swiss central bank's decision to let the Swiss franc find its market value (compared to the euro) was predictable, yet it has caused instability for Swiss markets. Meanwhile, the peg never helped the Swiss economy.

At the individual level, we can't get rich by spending money, but Keynesian stimulus is built on the idea that yes, spending money does in fact make you richer. Unfortunately, it only makes some people richer, not including you.

The recent de-peg of the Swiss franc from the euro illustrates the importance of currency competition, and the damage that state monopolies over money can do. We Americans should embrace currency competition here at home as well.

There has been much hand wringing among popular blogger-economists in response to the breaking of the Euro peg by the SNB.

If given a choice, people will avoid paper money that is declining in value, thus putting a restraint on inflationary bank notes. To shield banks from this, they turned to a monopolist central bank that issues legal tender and helps private banks inflate.