12.01. The Economics of Violent Intervention in the Market: Introduction
From Man, Economy, and State, narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
From Man, Economy, and State, narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
Presented in Vienna, Austria, on 19 September 2011. Includes an introduction by Douglas E. French.
Presented in Vienna, Austria, on 20 September 2011. Includes an introduction by Douglas E. French.
Why does the behavior of the Greek government have anything to do with taxpayers in Germany? Why did the original Maastricht Treaty have rules about fiscal policy as part of the criteria for monetary union? The answer is that the euro is a fiat currency.
Just as the interventions of the Hoover administration in the early 1930s led to a massive increase in government under the New Deal and the abandonment of the gold standard, so too have the "stimulus" packages gotten us to the point where raw money printing is a policy option.
Robert Lucas misses two important reasons why government/Keynesian stimulus schemes fail miserably.
Both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are owners of the printing press. They produce base money.
Abuse of paper money helped lead to the expulsion of the Mongol dynasty from China.