[This article is excerpted from the book The Age of Inflation.]

The German inflation of 1914–1923 had an inconspicuous beginning, a creeping rate of one to two percent. On the first day of the war, the German Reichsbank, like the other central banks of the belligerent powers, suspended redeemability of its notes in order to prevent a run on its gold reserves.

• CANTOR’S DIAGONAL ARGUMENT: AN EXTENSION TO THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE by Robert P. Murphy. The socialist calculation debate is one of the most famous episodes in the history of the Austrian School.

Set your coffee cup down before you read this pro-market article in the New York Times on the Essential Air Service program:

In contrast to the doomsday scenarios that predict we will soon run out of various natural resources, George Reisman has pointed out that the entire planet is a big ball of chemicals that, with the right technology, can be used to meet human wants. “...for all practical purposes, [natural resources] are infinite.”

Everything that’s wrong with government can be summarized by a single sign that stands eloquently at the entrance to my neighborhood park. A plot of green with tennis courts and soccer fields for athletes and playground paraphernalia for junior swingers. I mean the kind that really like to swing. Cursed with a civic attitude that makes me wary of gifts from politicians, I note A boastful sign. “This playground made possible by the city of Huntsville and the Madison County Commission,” it says. Not a blatant lie - just a fuzzy deception.

New from Law professor Richard Epstein: The Structural Unity of Real and Intellectual Property (video). Epstein argues that there are many similarities between physical property and “non-physical” property (i.e, intellectual property). Epstein identifies four principles that create a basic framework for understanding physical property law.

[Originally published October 2006.]

[Cross posted at Organizations and Markets]

In the New York Times, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winner in economics, has an article titled “How to Fix the Global Economy.” Judging from his article, Stiglitz appears to believe that the main problem of the global economy is “global financial imbalances.” By this, he means “America’s enormous trade deficits,” which he states are close to $3 billion a day, and “China’s growing trade surplus of almost $500 million a day.”