Monetary Theory

Interviewed by host Scott Horton, Mark Thornton talks about how Austrian economists recognized the housing bubble long before it burst, the stock m

Interviewed by Ken Morgan and Julie Dougherty on MoneyRadio 1510’s “Business for Breakfast,” 21 May 2013.

The first lesson to be learned is not to trust pronouncements about the safety of banks.

From the session on “Monetary Theory and Policy,” presented at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.

Henniger writes, "No president has believed more in the miracle of the multiplier than Barack Obama."

Understanding today's convoluted domestic and international fiat monetary system frankly requires a great deal of time and study. In a sound money environment, on the other hand, there is little confusion or controversy.

Needless to say, those who benefit from bubble activities are not going to like this, since the diversion of real wealth to them from wealth generators will slow down or cease all together. A fall in economic activity in this case would in fact be the demise of various bubble activities.

A rate of interest is established in the loan market which corresponds to a longer period of production; and so, although it is inadmissible and impracticable from an overall point of view, a lengthening of the period of production becomes at first profitable. But there cannot be the slightest doubt as to where this will lead.

What is, then, the best monetary policy? Mises argues that “A metallic money, the augmentation or diminution of the quantity of metal available for which is independent of deliberate human intervention, is becoming
    the modern monetary ideal.” He adds: “The significance of adherence to a metallic-money system lies in the freedom of the
    value of money from state influence that such a system guarantees.”

The publication of Ludwig von Mises’s Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel in 1912 marks a turning point in the history of economics, and of the Austrian School in particular. Mises contributed a great many original and penetrating arguments, each of which he articulated at its proper place within the edifice of an encompassing monetary treatise.