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California dreaming no more
11 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, minimum wage, Public Choice, public economics Tags: California, Florida
Argentina projection of the day
08 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, growth disasters, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: Argentina
Milei’s November election win — on a pledge to rapidly overhaul Argentina’s dysfunctional economy — has triggered a burst of market exuberance. The local Merval stock index is up 28 per cent, while prices for Argentina’s closely watched sovereign bonds maturing in 2030 — some of the most liquid — have risen 22 per cent…
Argentina projection of the day
Really?
06 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
It doesn’t seem to have been the best week for the Reserve Bank since the release of the latest Monetary Policy Statement last Wednesday. Of course, one could make a pretty compelling case that in the Orr years few weeks have been, and especially not any weeks when Bank figures actually say or do anything. […]
Really?
Government net debt: how does NZ compare?
02 Dec 2023 1 Comment
in budget deficits, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
In my post yesterday on the new OECD Economic Outlook fiscal numbers I included this chart Even if you leave off the last two observations (OECD projections based on current – Labour government – fiscal policy) recent trends have hardly been something to take any comfort in. But at least we were still a bit […]
Government net debt: how does NZ compare?
Comparing EU-to-US Output Per Hour
01 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic growth, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, occupational choice
The per capita GDP for the combined 27 countries of the European Union (EU-27) is about 72% of the US level. On the other side, the average worker in EU countries puts in far fewer hours on the job than do American workers. For example, OECD data says that the average US worker put in…
Comparing EU-to-US Output Per Hour
Why Argentina’s dollarization is likely to come in sudden, messy ways
30 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, currency unions, development economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: Argentina, dollarisation
Yes, I do still favor it, but here is part of the problem, as I explain in my latest Bloomberg column: The simplest way for Argentina to dollarize would be to inflate the peso even more. For purposes of argument, imagine a peso inflation rate of one billion percent a year. Pesos would be worthless, […]
Why Argentina’s dollarization is likely to come in sudden, messy ways
Review of “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” by Jennifer Burns
29 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics
Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns 592 pages Farrar, Straus and Giroux Published: Nov 2023 Released two weeks ago, Jennifer Burns’s “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” is the most significant biography of Friedman ever published. Burns is an associate professor of history at Stanford and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She […]
Review of “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” by Jennifer Burns
The new government and the Reserve Bank
27 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: monetary policy
But first a correction. As I noted on Twitter and very briefly on the post itself on Saturday, it seems that the gist of my post on Friday was wrong. The repeal of Labour’s tobacco de-nicotinisation legislation – whatever motivated the parties that championed the change – will leave the flow of tobacco excise revenue […]
The new government and the Reserve Bank
Pro Dollarization
25 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, monetary economics
With President Milei’s election in Argentina, dollarization is suddenly on the table. I’m for it. Here’s why. Why not? A standard of valueStart with “why not?” Dollarization, not a national currency, is actually a sensible default. The dollar is the US standard of value. We measure length in feet, weight in pounds, and the value of…
Pro Dollarization
Understanding Fiscal Inflation — Keynote Speech by Eric Leeper
22 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: monetary policy
A Libertarian Landslide in Argentina
21 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics Tags: Argentina, dollarisation
After a libertarian candidate took first place in Argentina’s presidential primary back in August, I wrote that the runoff would be the most important election of 2023 (even more important than the fortunately failed referendum to weaken TABOR in Colorado). Amazingly, Argentinian voters opted for the libertarian by a strong 56-44 margin. To understand President-Elect […]
A Libertarian Landslide in Argentina
George Selgin on the New Deal and Recovery (and Relief and Reform)
18 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, great depression, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, unemployment
TweetWant to get a few hours’ worth of solid learning in less than 35 enjoyable minutes? Listen to my Mercatus Center colleague David Beckworth’s podcast (from October 2022) with George Selgin on the New Deal. Seriously. It will be 34-plus minutes very well spent. George’s book – False Dawn – is forthcoming from the University…
George Selgin on the New Deal and Recovery (and Relief and Reform)
My Conversation with the excellent Jennifer Burns
17 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in Austrian economics, business cycles, economics of education, Euro crisis, F.A. Hayek, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is the episode description: Jennifer Burns is a professor history at Stanford who works at the intersection of intellectual, political, and cultural history. She’s written two biographies Tyler highly recommends: her 2009 book, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right and her latest, Milton Friedman: The […]
My Conversation with the excellent Jennifer Burns
Quantity theory of money, or fiscal theory of the price level?
16 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, history of economic thought, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, property rights Tags: monetary policy, Somalia
The rebel-controlled Yemeni rial is made up entirely of a fixed supply of notes printed prior to 2016. In the chart below you can see it appreciating in value (the blue line) against the dollar, issued by the world’s most powerful state. pic.twitter.com/vioXHmz2wQ — John Paul Koning (@jp_koning) November 15, 2023
Quantity theory of money, or fiscal theory of the price level?
Shameless central bankers
15 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economics of bureaucracy, financial economics, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy
It was in mid-August that this particular bit of shameless Reserve Bank spin got going. From a post in late August It proved to be nonsense of course. Once we had access to the short little IMF piece, published at the back of the Fund’s Article IV review, it was clear that it all amounted […]
Shameless central bankers
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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