Central Banks

Lower interest rates can help promote economic growth—as long as those rates are determined by the market and not by political edict.

Inflation isn’t just about higher prices. It is how unwarranted increases in the money supply touches off wealth transfers from those who are less-well off to people who are close to the new injections of money into the economy.

Why do independent central banks exist in the modern economy? It was originally thought independent central banks would prevent government extravagance from creating inflation.

While monetary inflation has various economic effects—predictable and surprising, direct and indirect—this article seeks to explore the effects of monetary inflation on food. Specifically, debased currency leads to debased food.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s claims to want to protect the “independence” of the Federal Reserve ring hollow. Following sound monetary policies is more important than the theoretical “independence” of the central bank.

Peter Earle reviews Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions. This edited volume delivers a timely critique of the Federal Reserve's discretionary monetary policy, arguing that a binding legal structure is needed to check its mission creep.

David Gordon reviews Binyamin Appelbaum's The Economists' Hour. As a critique of free-market economics, the book fails, relying on appeals to competing values and misattributing government failures to the market.

Joseph Salerno reviews Banking and Monetary Policy from the Perspective of Austrian Economics. Covering topics ranging from inflation targeting to cryptocurrency, this collection is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the Austrian monetary thought.

The Federal Reserve has what the New York Times called its “biggest shindig” of the year at Jackson Hole, Wyoming next week. What mischief are they up to?

Werner’s experiment is dubious at best. He strawmaned the alternative theories and set up the experiment in such a way that only his preferred theory would be confirmed.