Post Tagged with: "Austrian Economics"
Why Stimulus Is No Panacea
I fully support deficit spending as a means to prevent a debt deflationary spiral in a deep downturn. However, there are limits to what stimulus can actually do. Stimulus is no panacea for an unbalanced economy. In particular, when large imbalances build up, deficit spending is limited and can actually perpetuate the existing imbalances and
The Stimulants and the Austerians and the War on Double Dips
This week I have decided to do the weekly review both as a links post and in narrative form. I have already posted the links of the most-read articles (see them here). In this weekly review narrative, I want to discuss the never-ending double dip narrative in the US from a different angle than last
A Speech: “Chairman Greenspan: A Fiat Mind for a Fiat Age”
Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009). A speech delivered at the Ludwig von Mises Institute Conference: "Austrian Economics and the Financial Markets," held at the University Club in New York City, May 22, 2010.
Keynes Vs. Hayek: Old Ideas for a New Era
Marshall Auerback here with some further thoughts from the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s recent kick-off conference at Cambridge University. It might appear ironic to commence a conference ostensibly centered on new economic thinking with a discussion of two economists who did their greatest work more than 70 years ago. But it speaks both to
Lessons from Japan on sovereign default and balance sheet recessions
Edward wrote a piece about Japan’s government net asset value falling below zero. He thought it would make sense if I gave you an alternative view using Richard Koo’s latest thinking about the Japanese experience, especially given the parallels to the U.S. regarding balance sheet recessions. Before I get to Koo, I should add that,
We are all Austrians now
The following is a post which first appeared at the Big Picture from Paul Brodsky & Lee Quaintance who run QB Partners, a private macro-oriented investment fund based in New York. — We Are All Austrians Now Things are different this time, as they always are. The great difference between today’s capital markets and those
Credit crises, market equilibrium, economic policy and fiat currencies
In the wake of news about President Obama’s new Too Big to Fail Tax and Barry Ritholtz’s post on it, I had an in-depth conversation on the issue with a whole group of people, including Barry. Most of the group was all for the tax. I am not, as I recently laid out in an
Revisiting the sectoral balances model in Japan
On a number of occasions, I have pointed to the sectoral balances model of finance to help demonstrate what happens when the government sector runs a deficit or a surplus. A recent article in the Financial Times by Martin Wolf on Japan’s woes highlights this subject and demonstrates how government deficits balance private sector saving.
Bubbles, Employment and Recalculation
Calculated Risk has a post out today called Bubbles and Employment. The gist of the post is that interest rates play a role in creating bubbles as demonstrated by data on employment and common property yard-sticks like price-to-rent and price/earnings ratios. The graphs presented make the case quite well. CR finishes the article saying: Since
Looking at structurally high unemployment as recalculation
Unadjusted jobless claims after the holiday season are always monstrous because of seasonality. Last week 645,571 people filed initial claims for unemployment insurance in the United States. That is down from the 731,958 who filed at this time last year. Looking at the seasonally adjusted numbers, claims rose from to 434,000 last week from 433,000
Why economists failed to anticipate the financial crisis
About three months ago, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman took a stab at explaining why economists didn’t anticipate the worst financial crisis in three-quarters of a century. His was a long piece, taking up eight pages and 6,000 words at the New York Times website. His overview was certainly one of the best in
The year in review at Credit Writedowns – Kleptocracy
Yesterday, I indicated I would write a few thematic posts as a look back at some of the more important economic topics that this credit crisis has uncovered. Tying posts together in a theme definitely gives a better holistic view of a the themes than the posts do in isolation. But I also enjoy writing