Robert Hetzel, a distinguished historian of monetary theory and of monetary institutions, deployed his expertise in both fields in his recent The Federal Reserve: A New History. Hetzel’s theoretical point departure is that the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 effectively replaced the pre-World War I gold standard, in which the value […]
Central Banking and the Real-Bills Doctrine
Central Banking and the Real-Bills Doctrine
21 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economic history, financial economics, great depression, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: monetary policy
Hawtrey on the Interwar Gold Standard
21 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, great depression, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics
I just got a copy of Ralph Hawtrey’s Trade Depression and the Way Out (1933 edition, an expanded version of the first, 1931, edition published three days before England left the gold standard). Just flipping through the pages, I found the following tidbit on p. 9. The banking system of the world, as it was […]
Hawtrey on the Interwar Gold Standard
Harvard/Harris Poll: Majority of Democrats Want Hunter Prosecuted for Contempt
21 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

It appears that the concerted effort to excuse Hunter Biden’s defiance of a subpoena in the media has failed. According to a Harvard Caps/Harris poll, 71 percent of Americans believe that Hunter should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. What is remarkable is that 54 percent of Democrats support his prosecution.
Harvard/Harris Poll: Majority of Democrats Want Hunter Prosecuted for Contempt
WMO’s missing CO2-climate correlation?
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism

The alarmist WMO has put out a graphic on X/Twitter showing hardly any global warming increase (in blue) between 1940 and the 1970s, followed by a clear transition (to red) since then. This doesn’t correlate with the monotonic CO2 rise during that period. Weather expert Joe Bastardi is delighted: ‘Merry Christmas from the World Meteorological […]
WMO’s missing CO2-climate correlation?
Detours
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in defence economics, international economics, International law, transport economics, war and peace Tags: war against terror

📸 Look at this post on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/RzXkxTwTvi1p1Toi/?mibextid=RXn8sy
Another NYT writer resigns in lieu of being fired
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of media and culture, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror

Another writer for the New York Times, one who had accrued numerous accolades, resigned after having signed her second petition staking out a political position. As the NYT itself reported below, its Magazine writer Jazmine Hughes decided to resign from the paper after discussions with management. (She would have been fired had she not left.) […]
Another NYT writer resigns in lieu of being fired
GRAHAM ADAMS: Fear stalks Auckland University campus!
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
‘Progressive’ academics all aquiver before Siouxsie Wiles decision. Graham Adams writes – Last week, the NZ Herald published a very curious article about an “unsafe workplace”. You might have expected it to be about volunteer firefighters, or police dog handlers, or perhaps even nurses at the front line of hospital emergency departments, where unruly patients […]
GRAHAM ADAMS: Fear stalks Auckland University campus!
From Now To 2100 Emission Reduction Policy Costs Greatly Exceed Any Net Benefit from Averted Warming
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: climate alarmism
The benefits of not meeting Paris Accord emissions-reduction targets outweigh the costs associated even with worst-case-scenario global warming throughout the 21st century.
From Now To 2100 Emission Reduction Policy Costs Greatly Exceed Any Net Benefit from Averted Warming
Fritz Machlup (1902-1983)
19 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, history of economic thought, international economics
TweetAmong the many bits of unearned good fortune that have come my way in life was to have been a student in two of Fritz Machlup‘s classes at NYU. (In Spring 1981 I was a student in the last graduate course he taught on one of his specialities, International Trade. That course was phenomenally good.…
Fritz Machlup (1902-1983)
Nuclear Necessity: Europeans Driving Nuclear Power’s Inevitable Renaissance
19 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: atomic energy

When Vlad Putin put the squeeze on Europe’s gas supplies, Europeans embraced nuclear power out of urgent necessity. The grand wind and solar ‘transition’ were revealed as nothing but the greatest economic and environmental fraud, of all time. Incapable of delivering electricity as and when households and businesses need it, wind and solar run a […]
Nuclear Necessity: Europeans Driving Nuclear Power’s Inevitable Renaissance
Mission creep at the FFRF
19 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, sports economics Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

One of my favorite secular organizations is the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), of which I’m a member of the “honorary board”. But even honorary boards should play an advisory role, and so I’m doing that here by calling attention to the organization’s mission creep. In previous posts, I noted that the organization, which is […]
Mission creep at the FFRF
19 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: solar power, wind power
Monetary policy turning points
18 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy

When the Reserve Bank MPC came out late last month with its last words on monetary policy before its extended summer break, my post then was headed “Really?“. It was a commentary on the disjunction between the Reserve Bank’s inflation forecasts on the one hand, that showed quarterly inflation collapsing (not really too strong a word […]
Monetary policy turning points

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