P.I.G. Tales
Reading about Hoover’s and FDR’s mistakes and the coming Obama miscues won’t make the economy any better and may not make you feel better. But at least you’ll know why this depression will last a long time.
Understanding “Austrian” Economics
“Austrian” economics owes its name to the historical fact that it was founded and first elaborated by three Austrians.
Richard Epstein on Happiness
Econtalk hosts Richard Esptein on burgeoning happiness studies literature (see link for example).
Gold versus Fractional Reserves
[This article originally appeared in The Freeman, May 1979.]
The present worldwide inflation has done, and will continue to do, immense harm. But it may eventually lead to one great achievement. It may make it possible to restore (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say to create) a full 100 percent gold standard.
The Bureaucracy Problem
It is commonly held that the unplanned “anarchic” nature of capitalist production necessitates bureaucratic regulation to prevent economic chaos. Thus the prominent Hungarian Marxist, Andras Hegedus, argues that bureaucracy is merely “the by-product of an administrative structure” that separates the workers from the actual management of the economy. Since the owners make the decisions, all others must ultimately take their orders from this small group.
“The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of the Economics Profession”
That is the title of a new paper in the latest issue of Critical Review, by Colander, Goldberg, Haas, Juselius, Kirman, Lux, and Sloth. The article is not yet online, but the abstract is here:
Genius!
Economist Robert Frank has discovered a Ph.D powered economic perpetual motion machine that lifts itself by its own bootstraps, as explained by Mark Steyn:
The Housing Boom and Bust
The epicenter of the current economic crisis has been the U.S. housing market. The collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the dramatic fall in home values have sent out shock waves of economic disruption around the world.
Many have interpreted these events as another example of the inherent instability of the free market. There have been loud calls for greater and more detailed government regulation of the mortgage business and financial markets in general.
There’s An App For That
The computer and the Internet have put the world on our desk. Now the computer phone is putting the world in our pocket. If you haven’t seen it, the Money Museum is a beautiful online museum of world coinage.
The words greed and capitalism don’t appear
The press on the Pope’s new encyclical, Caritas in veritate, is downplaying the message and importance of the document mainly because he does not say what the Obamaite/left wants him to say.
