In his interview with the CNBC on November 9, 2010, a highly regarded Wall Street economist, Nouriel Roubini, the cofounder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, said that a gold standard is unlikely to stabilize the financial system. On the contrary, holds Roubini, such a standard can only make things much worse. For instance, argues Roubini,
As compared to September last year, the growth momentum of price indexes shows visible strengthening. Year on year, the rate of growth of the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 1.6 percent in January from 1.5 percent in the month before and 1.1 percent in September last year. Also the growth momentum of the consumer price index less food and
The yearly rate of growth of personal consumer outlays jumped from 2.5 percent in August last year to 3.8 percent this January. The growth momentum of personal income has been pushing ahead strongly since May last year. Year-on-year, the rate of growth shot up from 1.8 percent in May to 4.6 percent in January. Most economists and various
By the end of June, the expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is expected to come to an end. According to economic commentators, Fed officials are expected to initially hold the central bank’s balance sheet steady — currently at $2.75 trillion — by reinvesting the proceeds from maturing Treasuries and mortgage bonds. Thereafter, these
Some influential commentators believe that the Federal Reserve’s timing for the withdrawal of its record monetary stimulus could be determined by inflation expectations. (A popular measure of inflation expectations is the difference between the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note and the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury inflation
At the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta on June 7, 2011, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said, As is often the case, the ability and willingness of households to spend will be an important determinant of the pace at which the economy expands in coming quarters. Developments in the labor market will be of particular importance in setting
On Monday, August 8, the S&P 500 stock-price index fell 6.7 percent to close at 1,119.46. The index fell 13.4 percent from July, and this was the fourth consecutive monthly decline. It has fallen 17.9 percent from its high of 1,363.61 in April this year. Also, the index’s growth momentum has fallen visibly. Year on year, the rate of growth
In his speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 26, 2011, the Fed chairman disappointed most pundits. He did not promise another massive infusion of fake money, i.e., QE3. I suspect that a strengthening in bank lending is an important factor behind the Fed’s decision to postpone the pushing of more money into the economy. The yearly rate of
Last Thursday, October 27, European leaders secured an agreement from eurozone banks to take a 50 percent loss on the face value of their Greek debt. The leaders also set in place a plan to force banks to raise new capital to insulate them from potential sovereign-debt defaults. The banks must meet 9 percent capital reserves by June 30, 2012. It
In his New York Times article of January 11, 2012, the Nobel laureate Paul Krugman wrote, If nothing else, we’ve learned that the liquidity trap is neither a figment of our imaginations nor something that only happens in Japan; it’s a very real threat, and if and when it ends we should nonetheless be guarding against its return — which means that
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.
