The impact of household debt and saving on long run GDP growth
byNeither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. Hamlet I,…
Insight
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…
Economic Ideas: David Ricardo on Wealth, Inflation, and Freedom
byDavid Ricardo (1772-1823) was one of the most influential economic theorists of the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in London, England, his…
Economic Ideas: Thomas Malthus on Population, Passions, Property and Politics
byThose of us who have been fortunate enough to have been born in what is often still referred to as the Western World (Europe…
The 25th Anniversary of the End of the Soviet Union
byDecember 24, 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the formal end of the Soviet Union as a political entity on the map of the…
Economics Ideas: David Hume on Self-Coordinating and Correcting Market Processes
byDavid Hume was one of the most prominent of the Scottish Moral Philosophers. He is particularly famous as a philosophical skeptic, who, in his…
Does the Divisia monetary gauge help to define what money is?
byMost economists hold that, since the early 1980s, correlations between various definitions of money and national income have broken down. The reason for this…
True Free Trade vs. ‘Free Trade Deals’: The misappropriation of Freedom
byOne of the most frustrating aspect of those trade negotiations that are sold as ‘Free Trade Deals’ is that they are not truly ‘Free…
About that Economic Inequality
byI address this essay to two groups. One group is those among the liberty movement, who believe that there’s nothing wrong with inequality. These…
Economic Ideas: Inflation, Price Controls and Collectivism During the French Revolution
byGovernments have an insatiable appetite for the wealth of their subjects. When governments find it impossible to continue raising taxes or borrowing funds, they…