“Why should we not let people use freely what money they want to use? [They] ought to have the right to decide whether they want to buy or sell for francs, pounds, dollars, D-marks, or ounces of gold. I have no objection to governments issuing money, but I believe their claim to a monopoly, or […]
TheGameStopEpisode_AllanMalz_CMFAWP005 The post The GameStop Episode: What Happened And What Does It Mean? (CMFA Working Paper No. 005) appeared first on Alt-M.
A couple months ago, in arguing that “The Fed should give everyone a bank account,” journalist Matt Yglesias cited what he took to be an instructive precedent: “Once upon a time, governments didn’t issue paper currency, and instead banknotes were printed privately by banks. But over time, we came to see this as a worthwhile […]
(This editor’s note is cross-posted from the Spring/Summer 2021 edition of the Cato Journal.) In 1996, Cato held its 14th Annual Monetary Conference, “The Future of Money in the Information Age.” The proceedings, along with additional essays, appeared in a book with the same title in 1997. In that volume, Alan Greenspan wrote, “To develop […]
(This post completes my three-part discussion of the “regime uncertainty” hypothesis, according to which the New Deal hampered recovery by causing businessmen to fear policy changes that might render their investments unprofitable. Links to the previous posts about regime uncertainty, and to the other posts of my series on The New Deal and Recovery, occur […]
(This post continues my discussion of the “regime uncertainty” hypothesis, according to which the New Deal hampered recovery by causing businessmen to fear policy changes that might render their investments unprofitable.) Insull’s Monstrosity The 1935 Revenue Act wasn’t the only measure that had businessmen and investors shuddering that August. Less than a week after […]
TechnopopulismAndCentralBanks_CarolaBinder_CMFAWP004 The post Technopopulism and Central Banks (CMFA Working Paper No. 004) appeared first on Alt-M.
In her CMFA working paper, Carola Binder discusses a new approach for understanding why central bankers are pressured—by both politicians and the public—to deviate from their mandates. Further, Binder argues that this new approach “strengthens the case for limiting monetary policymakers’ discretion by implementing rule-based monetary policy.” To find out more, click the link here. […]
“This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. …[T]he only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — FDR, in his first inaugural address. “There is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain.”—Thomas Hobbes, on the state of nature, in Leviathan. Not the Sum of […]
In his first speech as a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, Christopher Waller defended Fed independence and reassured his audience that “deficit financing and debt servicing issues play no role in our policy decisions and never will.” His goal was to dispel the “narrative” that, with massive federal debt and fiscal deficits, […]