Mises Search

There was a interesting BBC News story about the European Union’s broken “stability pact” . The big three Euro zone countries, Germany, France and Italy all wants the rules limiting government deficits abolished or made formally meaningless (In practice they have long been meaningless), whereas some smaller countries like Holland, Austria and

When pro-inflation economists try to argue that inflation does not merely have redistributive effects, but can actually increase total production one of their most frequently used arguments (Often stated in implicit rather than explicit terms ) is that inflation can help erode the real value of artificially increased minimum wages set either

As I noted earlier Paul Krugman rejected the Austrian business cycle theory a few years ago , calling it “about as worthy of serious study as the phlogiston theory of fire.”[A theory of fire refuted by Antoine Lavoisier in the late 18th century]. Krugman wrote that he saw no reason why a investment bust would result in a recession because it would

Yesterday’s daily article by William Andersson on Paul Krugman’s recent dismissal of Austrian economics as religion was quite interesting. It might seem appropriate to remind everyone of a older attack by Krugman on Austrian economics, or more specifically, the Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). He starts the article by telling of how someone

The Federal Reserve seems determined to deny the role they and President Bush has played in creating the hugh U.S. current account deficit. First it was Ben Bernanke who tried to blame it on a “global savings glut”, something which I have commented here and here . Now Roger Ferguson has given a speech on the subject too. While both try to deflect

Ninja Economist reports that prominent Austrian economist Israel Kirzner will receive a Award from the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research and NUTEK (Swedish government agency which claims to promote industrial development). The Award is given to someone who has contributed to the understanding of entrepreneurship and small firms. The

After Greenspan’s departure from the Fed, there have been a number of reviews of his era. Some, like The Economist , have largely agreed with my negative assessment of Greenspan’s era while others have been more neutral. Then there have been others who have really been remarkably misleading, most notably those from Robert “No relation to Paul”

I discuss the outlook for the U.S. dollar versus the other major currencies during 2006 at the German financial website Der Invest Informer . In short I expect it to fall again during 2006 after the unexpected rise in 2005 against most currencies. Gold is also likely to increase in price versus the

I have so far not commented on one of the strangest developments in the world of statistics-how the Federal Reserve have decided that the M3 measure of money supply will be “discontinued” without saying why . Since they came with no explanation there have been lots of speculation as to why they did it. It certainly wasn’t because the Fed Governors

Stupid in America: How We Are Cheating Our Kids : Education reformers like Kevin Chavous have a message for these parents: If you only knew. Even though people in the suburbs might think their schools are great, Chavous says, “They’re not. That’s the thing and the test scores show that.” Chavous and many other education professionals say Americans