Money and Banks

Jeff Deist and Joe Salerno discuss monetary policy and gold on the heels of yet another GOP presidential primary debate.

You may have heard about the Swiss referendum to end fractional reserve lending by Swiss commercial banks. It's a fascinating development, and another example of how average Swiss people can use the federal referendum process to force both the central legislature and the 26 cantons to consider citizen proposals—merely by gathering 100,000 signatures within 18 months.

Populism was in the air this week as ranchers in the Western US opposed the spread of federally-owned lands, and reformers in Switzerland look to a referendum on fractional reserve banking.

Jeff Deist and Claudio Grass a fascinating development for Austrians and libertarians.

Many people know that the Venezuelan economy is subject to byzantine price controls and other regulations. But on top of it all is a highly complex, bureaucratic, and damaging system of government-controlled monetary exchange rates.

Like the Greenspan Fed before it, the Yellen Fed has doubled down on easy money, but will trigger a crisis once it tries to inch toward more normal interest rates.

Happy New Year from everyone at the Mises Institute! After an exciting 2015 filled with important research and growth in our global reach, we look forward to 2016. We start the new year with a Mises Weekends from Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.

With a new funding package in place, the Jeddah Tower — on track to be to be the world’s next tallest skyscraper — is moving forward. Will it prove to be like the Burj Khalifa tower and signal the next bust?

As an exciting year comes to a close, we want to thank all of our incredible members that allow us to do the work we do in advancing Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.