Its been over 6 years of ultra low interest rates referred to as ZIRP, or zero interest rate policy. We have been told to expect a normalization of interest rates soon, but now we are told that the Fed, specifically the New York Federal Reserve Bank is trying to figure out how to do that. 

For the millions of people who have suffered through an economics course the answer should be obvious, but for the Fed, things are not as clear as in the past.

[Editor’s note: In this article from 2015, economist John Cochran examines why higher interest rates are a key factor in repairing the damage of easy-money-induced business cycles. This topic remains timely and important because the Trump administration, like the Obama, Biden, and Bush administrations before it, remains committed to low-interest inflationary monetary policy. At the time of Cochran’s writing, the Yellen fed was doubling down on endless low-interest rate policy.

In September 1993, President Bill Clinton reassured his radio audience that “if you work hard and play by the rules, you’ll be rewarded with a good life for yourself and a better chance for your children.” Picking up that theme over eighteen years later, President Barack Obama affirmed that “Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that does the same.” The trouble is neit

How big is government in the United States? The answer depends on the concept used to define its size. Although many such concepts are available, and several are used from time to time, by far the most common measure, especially in studies by economists, is total government spending (G) as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Central banks have embarked on a transition from relative secrecy to relative transparency over the last two decades. This has led researchers to investigate the ramifications of transparency on important economic outcomes. By and large, the results reported have been favorable, favorable with qualifications, or ambiguous. This paper examines the communications of officials from the Federal Reserve during 2007, the year between the end of the housing bubble and the beginning of the financial crisis.

All Keynesian roads lead to stagflation. That was the case in Europe and in the United States in the 1970s when both stagnation and inflation hit the economies at the same time. Currently, this is the case in Brazil.

In spite of a seemingly endless number of examples to the contrary, we continue to be confronted, even in 2015, with the widespread idea that technological innovation can destroy jobs and wealth. Each new labor-saving technology leads to worried speculations by those who fear any challenge to the status quo.

Some of the most fascinating innovation in digital markets happens in video game worlds. It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of an “in-game economy” was little more than a hopeful metaphor, but today, many games feature intricate and evolving marketplaces.

Lew Rockwell and Jeff Deist cordially invite you to join them at our upcoming Mises Circle in Stamford, Connecticut, on Thursday, May 7. Register here.

How many people in the United States have trouble buying enough food for their households? The number is surely larger than zero, but beyond that, we’ll never know more because the federal surveys that measure “food insecurity” are so hopelessly skewed, as to be useless. 

James Bovard looks at the details: