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Rulers found out early on that they could debase gold and silver coins for their own gain. As a consequence, the money supply increased, whereas money’s purchasing power fell. This pseudoalchemy is the true definition of inflation and has been a policy for more than a thousand years . What’s more, an increase in the money supply leads to rising

It may sound like a bad joke, but several central banks actually claim this. On the website of Sweden’s central bank, the  Riksbank , you can read it both in English and Swedish. In English, the statement says: “The Riksbank is Sweden’s central bank. We ensure that money retains its value (over time).” The Swedish version translated to English

Every human acts purposefully using scarce means to attain ends. From this action axiom , we can deduce further human behavior and its effects. One such behavior is time preference. Time preference is the idea that people value present ends above future ends. Since we must choose between various ends at any given time, we must have a preference to

The use of symbols and language to spread ideologies have been practiced for thousands of years. The first symbols to represent ideas were religious ones and were used to spread the teachings of deities. During the 19th century political symbols  started to emerge and today almost every political party and ideology has its own. Symbols share the

Historically, inflation always referred to an increase in the money supply, whereas nowadays it refers to an increase in prices. This shift in the definition of inflation lets central banks get away with their fraudulent business. Thus, the original definition must be reestablished. We must, by all means, switch the focus from the symptoms to the

In mundane speech and in perhaps any dictionary,  anarchy  is synonymous with chaos and disorder. This may not come as a surprise since left-wing anarchists have worked hard on destroying anarchy’s reputation. As a former statist, I used to share this view of anarchy—a chaotic dystopia. But, as I’ve learned over the years, anarchy is the opposite

According to mainstream economics, interest rates are the price of money, but the Austrian school says differently. To understand these conflicting ideas, we must understand what prices, money, and interest are. First of all, prices are exchange-ratios between goods and/or services. An apple might be exchanged for a pear or two bananas. In that