Mr. Volcker certainly deserves credit for curbing the Great Inflation of the 1970s. However, he also merits a lion’s share of the blame for unleashing the Great Inflation on the US and the world economy in the first place.
The idea that people are driven by fear of losses more than they are by the potential for gain has attained a sort of dogmatic adherence among behavioral economists. But there's a problem: the theory isn't true.
Many modern economists think the standard for a "good" economic theory is how well it predicts future trends. Not only are most economists terrible at making predictions, but the whole premise of economics as being about predicting things is a flawed idea.
The budgetary restraints that the eurozone placed on member states are now in the crosshairs of ECB President Christine Lagarde.
The actual policies that labor unions have systematically followed from the beginning of their existence have in fact reduced the real wages of the workers as a whole below what they would otherwise have been.
That so many voters, pundits, academics, and media figures are taken in by the Warren-Sanders wealth confiscation and redistribution schemes does not bode well for our economic and political future.
Price inflation is probably down in energy, food, and apparel. But asset price inflation in stocks and real estate is significant. This means high rents and high home prices for ordinary people.
Zimbabwe's government has embraced a potent mixture of monetary inflation and price controls. The result has been economic disaster.
John Maynard Keynes's stance on German reparations in the wake of the First World War may have precipitated the rise of Hitler.
