The Fed

The F.A. Hayek Lecture, sponsored by Dr. Rafael Perez-Mera.

In recent decades, the tech sector has brought us newer and better goods and ever-dropping prices.

Recently the Federal Reserve reached its one hundred year anniversary. This milestone provided a nice occasion for economists to analyze the Fed’s performance in the past century.

Measuring aggregate prices through a consumer price index is inherently arbitrary because someone decides what to measure and how. There are better ways to do it, but "fixing" the measure will do nothing to fix the ills of the Fed's monetary policy.

Thanks to the central bank, those who worked hard and “played by the rules” all their lives now face an uncertain future as inflation c

In recent decades, the tech sector has brought us newer and better goods and ever-dropping prices. In an unhampered market, the same would happen across the entire economy. But, the Fed won't allow this to happen.

In this lecture from last week's Sound Money seminar at the Mises Institute, Jonathan Newman explains the basics of how the central bank's distortion of interest rates and the money supply brings booms and busts.

At his new blog, Ben Bernanke is coming up with new excuses as to why the current recovery is so weak and why mega-low interest rates — and thus a lack of options for middle-income savers seeking interest income — aren't his fault.

"Sound money and free banking are not impossible; they are merely illegal," Hans Sennholz wrote. Today, the barriers to competition in money and free-market banking are numerous, but even a few non-radical changes could open up a new world of options and competition for bankers and consumers.

Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 10 April 2014. Includes an introduction by Jeff Deist.