Money-supply growth rose year over year in April, marking the sixth month in a row of accelerating growth, and rising to the largest growth rate in forty-nine months. In spite of repeated claims from the Federal Reserve that monetary policy is at least moderately restrictive, there is no sign of any slowing in money-supply growth. Moreover, the overall fragility of the economy suggests that the Fed will continue to face political pressure toward easing monetary conditions, and this is likely to ensure that we see no real effort at the Fed toward monetary tightening. 

Brazil is again teaching a lesson that economists should not need to relearn: a government cannot buy prosperity by pushing demand today while leaving production, saving, and investment to carry the bill tomorrow. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration is publicly frustrated with high interest rates, but the numbers tell a simpler story. Brazil’s own central bank data show that inflation expectations remain above target, the policy rate remains high, and fiscal risks remain one of the market’s central concerns.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is likely that we will hear a common, but mistaken, interpretation of the Declaration by both establishment conservatives and progressive egalitarians.

Oiriginally published at Law&Liberty. 

With the upcoming BIPPA government compensation drive happening in Zimbabwe, this article focuses on the issue of property rights in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean political timeline has been marred by sheer disrespect for property rights by both the colonialist and the post-colonial governments. In comparison with the systems that followed, it is necessary to understand that the precolonial political systems were more libertarian.

The encyclical Magnifica Humanitas by Pope Leo XIV is a remarkable text in many ways. It recognizes the dangers of technological concentration and the threat that large private platforms pose to human dignity.