Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 3 (Fall 2017)

Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster: Lessons in Local Entrepreneurship by Virgil Henry Storr, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch, and Laura E. Grube, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

When a community is hit by a disaster, how can it recover? What choices of that community enhance (or hamper) revival? These are some of the interesting questions considered about the economics of mega-disaster.

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 3 (Fall 2017)

Public Debt: An Illusion of Democractic Political Economy, by Giuseppe Eusepi and Richard E. Wagner, Edward Elgar, 2017

According to a variety of sources, Alabama’s state legislature may “end marriage licenses“ if a bill now being heard in the legislature goes forward. 

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 3 (Fall 2017)

Abstract: Shawn Ritenour provides a review of my two-volume book Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle in the Winter 2016 issue of this journal. In his review, he provides a number of criticisms of the book and offers some compliments of the book as well. While I appreciate the compliments, most of the criticisms are not valid. In this response, I explain why it is that more money in the economy leads to more profits.

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 3 (Fall 2017)

Abstract: An open question in the Austrian business cycle theory is how labor markets across the structure of production react to broader changes in the economy. Particularly, how do labor market conditions in industries at different stages of production respond to changes in monetary policy?

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 20, no. 3 (Fall 2017)

Abstract: Ludwig Lachmann claimed that expectations are subjective, and argued that this phenomenon, coupled with the ceaseless change characterizing market data, greatly undermines the strength of any process of equilibration. This paper compares his views on this subject with those of Mises. It argues that Mises also viewed expectations to be subjective.

Last week the Senate confirmed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chairman by a vote of 84-13. This is in contrast to the contentious debates and closer votes over Janet Yellen’s confirmation in 2014 and Ben Bernanke’s confirmation for a second term in 2010. Powell benefited from a perception that the economy’s recovery from the 2007-08 meltdown proves that the Fed is a capable manager of monetary policy. However, the perceptions of economic recovery and Federal Reserve competence are both far from the truth. 

A year after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, analysts and commentators are assessing both his performance in the first year of his presidency as well as the outlook for the remainder of his first term. Entering office as a surprise winner and a political neophyte, many people didn’t know just what to expect from Trump. Would he do what he pledged to do as a candidate, or was his campaign rhetoric just a lot of hot air to bamboozle enough people into voting for him?