Three Flawed Fed Exit Options

Whether giving public lectures or teaching at the Mises Academy, I’m often asked whether Bernanke will be able to “pull this off.” Specifically, can the Fed gracefully exit from the huge hole it has dug for itself?

Unfortunately my answer is no. In the present article I’ll go over three possible exit options, and explain the flaws in each.

The Problem

Before assessing the chances of escape, let’s first review what the problem is:

Fed’s Dudley: Quit Whining About Food Prices, Buy an iPad2

William C. Dudley is the amazingly out-of-touch President of the New York Fed. Speaking in Queens today, he said the economy has improved, but a long way from improved employment and price stability.

The audience pressed Dudley about higher food prices, wherein Reuters reports “people forget that even as the price of food is rising, other prices are falling. He mentioned the price of the iPad 2, prompting guffaws from the audience.”

Embracing Morals in Economics: The Role of Internal Moral Constraints in a Market Economy

What does it take to bring about a well-functioning market? Almost all economists agree that people should engage in cooperative exchange rather than predation, theft, or fraud, but how to ensure this is a matter of debate. Many neoclassical economists follow Thomas Hobbes and focus on changing legal arrangements to solve prisoners’ dilemma situations (Barzel, 2002, Hirshleifer, 2001; Tullock, 1972). Eliminating unwanted behavior is a matter of imposing optimal fines, the “price of an offense” (Becker, 1968, p.262), to alter the costs and benefits of different choices.

Rethinking Iceland’s Recovery

Like many economic events, the key lies not in what is immediately apparent — explosively large banks — but in those causes and conditions that are veiled. Politicians, pundits, and the population of the Icelandic nation have had a difficult time explaining how such a large financial sector could develop in the first place.