[This is the first post in a series. see Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, and Part Six.]

In absolute terms, the US dollar continues to be inflationary in ways rarely seen before 2009. That is, in a world of Quantitative Easing, the Fed just keeps on creating money in order to prop up domestic industries as well as US government debt. In late December, for example, the Fed continued with its buying spree of mortgage debt in order to continue to “enhance” housing markets, and thus the banks that invest in them.

With a new year come new opportunities as well as new issues to take into consideration. Here are the five most important issues to keep an eye on in 2017.

Based on page views, these are the most popular articles in December:

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 3 (Fall 2016)

ABSTRACT: We develop a simple mathematical version of Garrison’s model. The purpose to develop a mathematical framework is to (1) show how such representation can be used and (2) layout a path for future work that requires a more flexible version of Garrison’s treatment than the graphical exposition. While the graphical model is limited to three dimensions, a mathematical version can include more variables of interest.

We’ve lived through another election season, and as with every election year, the candidates competed to tell us about all the ways they were going to use the power of government to make our lives better. Unfortunately, many voters appeared quite sympathetic to the idea that government action can improve living standards and generally make markets work better.

Literary criticism is a field that mystifies many people. Although its goal of evaluating and commenting on works of literature is straightforward enough, the theories that inform the work of many critics often muddy the waters. Some employ arcane terminology that makes them inaccessible to the uninitiated. Others make assertions that defy common sense, e.g., that an author’s intent has no bearing on how a reader should interpret his work, or that a laundry list has as much intrinsic literary merit as a Shakespearean play.