Abstract: The new “secular stagnation hypothesis” developed by Lawrence H. Summers attempts to justify why the demand stimulus applied in the aftermath of the global financial crisis failed to revive growth in a satisfactory manner. Building on previous ideas of Keynes, Hansen, and Bernanke, Summers claims that excess savings together with feeble investment drove the natural rate of interest down to zero and advanced economies into stagnation.

Abstract: China is currently the world’s largest installer of wind power. However, with twice the installed wind capacity compared to the United States in 2015, the Chinese produce less power. The question is: Why is this the case? This article shows that Chinese grid connectivity is low, Chinese firms have few international patents, and that export is low even though production capacity far exceeds domestic production needs.

Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America
Richard K. Vedder
Oakland, Calif.: Independent Institute, 2019, 400 + xiv pp.

Timothy Terrell (terrelltd@wofford.edu) is T.B. Stackhouse Professor of Economics at Wofford College and a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute.

Abstract: Recent debates in monetary theory have centered on so-called free banking and the role of banks in providing money in the form of fiduciary media in a pure market economy. This paper examines how and to what extent fiduciary media can emerge in a pure market economy. Based on the theory of value, it is argued that those economists are mistaken who claim that money substitutes must in all cases be interpreted as being money titles. Those economists too are mistaken, however, who claim a large role for the circulation of fiduciary media in a pure market economy.

In case you haven’t noticed, America is “deeply divided.” At least, that’s what a seemingly nonstop stream of headlines from major media sources would have us believe. “Trump Leaves America at Its Most Divided since the Civil War,” reads one CNN headline from earlier this year.

Trust in a Polarized Age
Kevin Vallier
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, 310 + x pp.

David Gordon (dgordon@mises.com) is a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute.

Monetary Policy after the Great Recession: The Role of Interest Rates
Arkadiusz Sieron
New York: Routledge, 2020, xviii + 230 pp.

Nikolay Gertchev (ngertchev@gmail.com) holds a PhD in economics from the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas and currently lives in Belgium, where he works for an international organization.

Western countries will adopt (or consider adopting) state-mandated “medical passports”—so-called green passes—meant to prevent covid-19’s spread.

ABSTRACT:  The “new development economics” (also called behavioral development economics) consists of microeconomic experimentation based on behavioral economics and randomized controlled trials. This approach would illuminate the close relationships between preferences, culture, and institutions and point to new political opportunities.