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Volume 13, Number 4 (Winter 2010)   We explore several  unaddressed  issues in George  Selgin’s  (1988) claim that the best monetary system to maintain monetary equilibrium is a fractional reserve free banking one. The claim that adverse clearing balances would limit credit expansion in a fractional reserve free banking system is more troublesome

Volume 12, No. 1 (2009)   It is with great trepidation and anticipation that we review Robert  Shiller’s  new book,  The Subprime Solution . Trepidation as to the causes of the problem, which were expected to take a behavioral spin. Anticipation that, with gushing reviews from Austrian friendly writers such as  Nassim   Taleb , there would be a

“Balls, we need balls” is probably the most famous phrase of German goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn. Balls, too, are needed by someone who is patronizingly introduced by Klaus “The Great Reset” Schwab in Davos, only to tell the assembled political and economic elite to their faces that they betray the liberal-libertarian principles that have made

Bioethicist Garrett James Hardin, who coined the term “tragedy of the commons,” passed away this September at the age of 88. In his now famous 1968 essay,  “ The Tragedy of the Commons ,” Hardin describes how common, i.e., public, property, is overused until it deteriorates or is destroyed. Because of his essay, many consider him to have fathered

Currently at 10.7 percent, unemployment is one of the most severe problems in Germany. The main reason for this unemployment is wage agreements that are too high. These wage agreements are primarily legitimated by the “productivity norm theory” that states that wages should be raised according to increases in “labor productivity.” Thus when labor

In his classic book On the Accuracy of Economic Observation Oskar Morgenstern deals with a common, yet widely neglected problem with which economic historians are faced, namely the quality of economic data. For the economic historian in the Austrian tradition, the quality of economic data is of utmost importance, since false data or belief in

 The best that mankind ever knew: Freedom and life are earned by those alone Who conquer them each day anew. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe According to many economists, we need the state to provide public goods. The assertion seems to be so crystal-clear that it is not even worth discussion in the mainstream. One typical and popular example of

Since August 15, 1971 the US dollar has been an irredeemable paper currency. Every irredeemable paper currency in history has failed. Yet, the experiment of the US dollar and the rest of the fiat paper world continues. During the current crisis, however, financial systems all over the world are increasingly struggling, and the end of the

Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde’s resignation on January 23rd of this year marked the first political casualty of the current financial crisis. While the Icelandic situation has received scant attention relative to other calamities reverberating through the world’s financial markets, the source of Iceland’s woes can be found in many of the

The Origin of the Dilemma The Federal Reserve (Fed) and other central banks currently face a dilemma. A strong central-bank balance sheet is essential for the quality of a currency and the stability of a financial system. Unfortunately, the financial crisis has seen substantial changes in the balance sheets of the world’s major central banks.