Money and Banks

Bob Murphy and Stephan Livera discuss the economics of Bitcoin from an Austrian perspective.

The central bank has basically destroyed the business of risk, and commercial real estate remains a looming disaster. As a result, banks aren't lending to regular people. The economy increasingly relies on little more than newly printed money. 

The case of the zaïre currency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo provides strong anecdotal evidence discounting the fiat currency–obsessed modern monetary theory.

I would be silly to suggest that I know the precise potential of cryptocurrencies, but I would be even sillier if I were to say that the Indian government does.

I would be silly to suggest that I know the precise potential of cryptocurrencies, but I would be even sillier if I were to say that the Indian government does.

Hamilton was "so bewitched & perverted by the British example," wrote Jefferson, "as to be under thoro' conviction that corruption was essential to the government of a nation."

The fact that gold can be used for, say, industrial purposes does not mean it has "real value" while more intangible goods and services have none.

The fact that gold can be used for, say, industrial purposes does not mean it has "real value" while more intangible goods and services have none.

Fekete was one of the few old Europeans to recognize the central role of money: on the positive side as a means of amicable division of labor, on the negative side as a casualty and lever of political intervention.

If we look beyond the mere tax revenue totals, we begin to understand that the cost of taxation to society is far higher than the tax revenue raised and that the costs to society of taxation grow faster than the size of government.