Money and Banking

Scotland's celebrated free banks were neither free nor superior.

Bob reviews Murray Rothbard's 1988 essay "The Myth of Free Banking in Scotland," his sharp response to Larry White's influential account of Scottish free banking.

The Singer Building and the panic of 1907. The Empire State and the Depression. The Burj Khalifa and 2008. Lucas Engelhardt on why the world's tallest buildings keep opening at exactly the wrong moment.

Successful entrepreneurs are all Austrians, Per Bylund says. They just never had the words for it.

Even in a world of gold, silver, and costly mining, whoever got the new money first still came out ahead. Jeffrey Degner on why hard money doesn't repeal the Cantillon effect, and why fiat makes it far worse.

"Their red ink is your black ink." Jonathan Newman on what MMT leaves out; namely, how the government actually makes the payment.

The Fed was sold as a check on Wall Street's power. Wall Street's share of the nation's bank reserves went up after it passed, not down. Patrick Newman on the Federal Reserve as cronyism.

No, it isn't Blackstone, and the boomers didn't take it all. Timothy Terrell separates the housing myths from the real reasons you can't afford a house.

Your bank says the money in your checking account is yours, available in full, any time. Its own balance sheet says it's holding a fraction of it. Jonathan Newman on what banks actually do with your deposits.

Try paying for a roof in moonwalk lessons. That's the problem money solves. Sandy Klein on why barter fails and how gold became money.