Inflation

Hyperinflation has been a scourge throughout history. Professor Mark Thornton has found even more episodes of hyperinflation that have happened over the past several centuries.

Inflation is a government tool used to confiscate wealth from ordinary citizens and transfer it to government agents and others who are politically connected. That most Americans believe inflation is caused by greedy business owners shows how successfully the government covers its tracks.

Housing prices in the US are officially off the charts. But why is that the case, as it wasn’t that long ago that homes were affordable. Like all other economic crises, this one has its roots in government policies.

Gresham’s Law isn’t about greed or bad behavior. It describes rational decision-making under fixed rules.

The current Washington tiff between Donald Trump and Jerome Powell is being reframed as Powell heroically defending the Fed’s “independence.” In truth, the Fed has always done the administration’s dirty work and pursued inflation when it might temporarily boost the economy.

The current Washington tiff between Donald Trump and Jerome Powell is being reframed as Powell heroically defending the Fed’s “independence.” In truth, the Fed has always done the administration’s dirty work and pursued inflation when it might temporarily boost the economy.

Net present value (NPV) is a popular decision-making criteria used by firms to make key, crucial choices about how to allocate resources across an economy, but this can be misleading especially when interest rates are manipulated via inflation.

What would be the economic consequences if one individual had a money printer? Now trace that out to a central bank and government.

What if the affordability crisis is not a failure of markets at all? What if it is the predictable outcome of how modern governments finance themselves?

Hyperinflation isn’t ancient history. It’s a recurring policy failure with war-level damage.