Economics

Archive for Economics

Why Is Unemployment So High?

I offer some thoughts yesterday at Mises.org. I tried to start from scratch, if you will, and discuss unemployment from a slightly different angle. Some excerpts: Before offering some explanations for this disturbing situation, we should first clarify what unemployment is. There are different ways of defining the condition, but we can capture the typical […]

Tyler Cowen Embraces ABCT Even More Closely

I have already blogged about the weird weird psychological event in which Tyler Cowen used Austrian business cycle theory to accidentally predict the financial crisis way back in 2005. In August 2008, when his colleague Bryan Caplan was congratulating central bankers for their expert guidance of the world economy (can’t find the link, let me […]

What’s Wrong With Government Debt?

In today’s Mises.org article I elaborate on the Keith Hennessey chart showing projected fiscal trends through 2060. I walk through a numerical example showing the connection between government deficits and debt, as a % of GDP. (It’s a bit counterintuitive–you can set any level of perpetual deficits that you want, and there is an associated […]

Koch Speaks Out

I hadn’t noticed this, but Glenn Greenwald linked to a WSJ op ed by Charles Koch (I’m guessing the name rings a bell with most readers). I wish he would have taken on the accusations more directly, since I like a good brawl (in words of course, not fists), but I imagine his media consultants […]

Corporate Welfare Polka

I’m not sure this woman would even want my endorsement–should I send her a free copy of the Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism?–but I heard this on the low-budget indie station in the car and thought it was worth re-posting. (Note the audio was better in the version I heard, but this gets the idea […]

Murphy vs. Famous Keynesian

Ah, but it’s the poor man’s Krugman, Brad DeLong. (At this point I can’t be accountable for jokes at the expense of DeLong, since I can plead insanity in my defense. I couldn’t help it, guys. Voices are telling me to rip on him, honest.) Anyway, I was foolish and decided to defend Sasha Volokh […]

Charles Plosser, Our Man on the Fed?

I explain at Mises.org. However, we Austrians must always engage in product differentiation and so: [B]ecause the Austrians have a rich model of capital, they can explain why a painful bust, or recession, is necessary. In other words, after the central bank backs off and lets interest rates rise to their correct level, the entrepreneurs […]

Twin Spin on Inflation Fears and Monetary Aggregates

With my crazy traveling I didn’t post last week’s article on “Investors Finally Fear the Inflation Precipice.” Here’s an excerpt: When Bernanke made his infamous appearance on 60 Minutes, most analysts understandably focused on his absurd claim that he wasn’t printing money. But the thing that most alarmed me was this exchange (starting at about […]