Jonathan Newman

Dr. Jonathan Newman is a Fellow at the Mises Institute. He earned his PhD at Auburn University while a Research Fellow at the Mises Institute. He was the recipient of the 2021 Gary G. Schlarbaum Award to a Promising Young Scholar for Excellence in Research and Teaching. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Bryan College. He has published in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and in volumes edited by Matthew McCaffrey and Per Bylund. His research focuses on Austrian economics, inflation and business cycles, and the history of economic thought. He has taught courses on Macroeconomics and Quantitative Economics: Uses and Limitations in the Mises Graduate School. He is the author of three children’s books: The Broken Window, Ludwig the Builder, and The Magic Coin. His commentary appears regularly in the Mises Wire and Power & Market.

Articles

Did the Fed Achieve Independence During the Korean War?

05/28/2025 Mises Wire Jonathan Newman

War finance is in the Federal Reserve’s DNA. As Ron Paul astutely noted, “It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.” The Fed itself acknowledges...

MMT Is Wrong about the History of the Origins of Money

05/07/2025 Mises Wire Jonathan Newman

Proponents of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) think that money is a “creature of the state.” They say that money is whatever the state says it is, and that this is instituted primarily through taxation...

Dave Smith vs. Douglas Murray and the State’s Intellectuals

04/14/2025 Power & Market Jonathan Newman

“The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.” - H.L. Mencken Murray Rothbard has a...

Publications

The Magic Coin

05/06/2025 Jonathan Newman

The Magic Coin tells the story of a girl who goes on a time-traveling adventure through the history of money and banking. The book makes it easy and fun for children to learn the most important concepts in Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done

For a New Liberty: Discussion Questions

04/17/2024 Jonathan Newman

This guide is based on Jonathan Newman’s fall 2023 Mises Book Club discussions of Murray Rothbard’s For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto.

Media

The Myth of Fed Independence

06/05/2025 Ryan McMaken Jonathan Newman

Jonathan Newman joins Ryan McMaken to talk about the history behind the myth of "Fed independence." The Fed has never been politically independent of the US government, and it has enthusiastically helped fund the US government both in wartime and in peacetime.

Did the Fed Achieve Independence During the Korean War?

05/29/2025 Jonathan Newman

Rumor has it that the Federal Reserve was able to resist the president‘s demands to enable funding of the Korean War. However, a look at the record demonstrates conclusively that the Fed bowed to Harry Truman‘s wishes to do what it has done for a century: finance America‘s wars.

The Myth of Fed Independence After the Treasury-Fed Accord of 1951

05/17/2025 Jonathan Newman

Is the Federal Reserve truly independent? Jonathan Newman uncovers the myths behind the 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord.