The Austrian Prescription
byAt the start of the year it has become wearily traditional for us pundits to offer one of two genres of prediction. The first…
Economics
Inflation: How it occurs and what are its consequences
byInflation: How it occurs and what are its consequences Guided by Austrian school economics, I have attempted to outline firstly the different mechanisms through…
Pool of wealth and economic bust
byIt has now become settled wisdom that the massive monetary pumping by the US central bank during and after the 2008 financial crisis saved…
Price controls and propaganda
byMost economists agree on one thing; price controls do not work. Many go on to say they create shortages of goods, which inevitably drives…
Jeffrey P. Snider: Economic Hope As Inventory
byInventories in the fourth quarter rebounded rather sharply, at least in terms of how inventory is calculated as a contribution to GDP. The GDP…
Doug Casey: Comparing the 1930s and Today
byYou’ve heard the axiom “History repeats itself.” It does, but never in exactly the same way. To apply the lessons of the past, we…
Benn Steil: Mini Mac Trumps the Big Mac
byThe “law of one price” holds that identical goods should trade for the same price in an efficient market. But how well does it…
Central Banks Pray for Electoral “Shocks”. Forced to Nationalise Monte dei Paschi, Italy Looks in Trouble, but Cleverly Plays its Sicilian Defence.
byCentral Banking How will Central Banks cope with 2017 shocks? Perhaps new rules, one-off solutions, doubtless lots more QE. Populism will perhaps be their…
Can sophisticated technology prevent a recession?
byThe world has come a long way since the heady days before the Great Depression of the 1930s. Technology, for one thing, has meant…
Mish Shedlock: In Search of Elephant in Room, Fed Governors Come Up Empty
byFed Governor Jerome Powell says “Signs of excesses are ‘isolated’. Asset Prices ‘not broadly unsustainable’“. The Federal Reserve does not see “broadly unsustainable asset…