The Duplicity of Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke has expressly acted in direct contradiction to every one of his stated goals as Federal Reserve Chairman: transparency, stable prices, minimal intervention.
Wilhelm Ropke and his liberal outlook
I’ve long had a fascination with Wilhelm Ropke, outstanding economist, tough-minded anti-Keynesian, political decentralist, advocate of free trade and hard money, author of some outstanding works on political and economic liberty, and also moralist and defender of bourgeois culture. We have a nice collection of his work online and in the store. Today we add online The Social Crisis of Our Time.
Headlines are ever more bizarre
GDP declines 1 percent, better than expected: “The economy shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent in the spring, a better-than-expected showing and more evidence that the recession is drawing to a close.”
Maybe suggest your own versions such as: “Dresden bombing preserves more buildings than expected; GDP-boosting rebuild already underway.”
Even When Krugman’s Right, He’s Wrong
Prashanth Perumal insisted that I comment on this Krugman blog post from January. The reason I didn’t comment on it at the time was that my views here are rather nuanced. It’s one of those tricky situations where I agree with Krugman that his opponents are wrong, but I deny that Krugman is therefore right. In other words, Krugman’s enemies–Eugene Fama and John Cochrane–use invalid arguments but reach a true conclusion, namely that big government deficits don’t help an economy in recession.
Aristotle’s Legacy: The Reality and Ethics of Communal Property
Aristotle has shown that man can be truly generous only in a private city. Rather than help men grow in maturity, socialized property will stunt men’s moral development by removing their options.
The Duty to Be Free
By remaining in the old world, we could have been not only secure, but even free of the need to be responsible. Instead, we chose the freedom, the liberty, the independence and the inalienable right to responsibility.
Math for Economics in Grad School
Reddit has a fascinating thread on the math requirements for PhD studies in economics, beginning with a link to a math camp at Yale for econ, and then followed by commentary and critiques.
Freedom Is Indivisible
Now that our country is expected to be the foremost champion of the “free world” (for how long and at what cost nobody knows), it has become more important than ever for Americans to think clearly about American freedom.
1929: Then and Now
Reassurance from the planners of governmental intervention may seem soothing and acceptable to many political leaders and followers. But it is a frightening thing to those who know the lessons of economic history.
Banking and the Business Cycle
I know of no better book on the economic dynamics of the 1920s boom and early 1930s bust in the United States. If I could recommend only a single book, this is the one.
