Financial Economics

Archive for Financial Economics

More Heretical Thoughts on Inflation

I know, I know, the “bond market” is telling us that there will be low price inflation as far as the eye can see, so I’m just supposed to ignore everything else that is screaming, “Danger danger, Will Robinson!” Now we Austrian types have argued that maybe the yields on US government debt are low […]

I’m Sorry, I Still Fail to See Why We’re In a Deflationary Trap

Apparently taking Krugman’s side in the inflationista/deflationista debate, MMTer regular MamMoTh in the comments points us to this chart: Like I said, MamMoth seems to think the above chart should somehow embarrass the Austrians worried about inflation. I have to confess, I’m not seeing how soaring commodities, with silver and gold at the head of […]

Al Sharpton (and Others) Discuss the “Prophet” Ron Paul

I can’t believe this is happening. People on MSNBC are talking about Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, the gold standard, and Ron Paul as a prophet. If they bring up David Gordon, I’m going to pass out.

Murphy Twin Spin

On Monday I talked about deleveraging and not fearing the reaper. Today I have an infomercial for the 4-week Mises Academy class starting next week on the sovereign debt crisis. (I’m still taking suggestions for the syllabus, if anyone has ideas.)

A Web Conference Summarizing the US Economy

We conceived of this idea earlier in the week, as the market plummeted. The web traffic at Mises.org is through the roof, and we know people are searching about for various perspectives on what the heck is going on. I will be offering an Austrian (naturally) take on our situation Friday, starting at 6pm Eastern […]

Why Is the Stock Market Plunging?

Of course there are specific factors explaining the exact timing–notably the mess in Europe–but I offer a “big picture” explanation in today’s article at Mises.org. It’s worth checking out just for the charts, which are pretty revealing if you haven’t been following that type of thing.

Interesting Reactions to S&P Downgrade

I’ve already mentioned Tyler Cowen’s surprising reaction… But here is Brad DeLong making a refreshingly honest admission. (The same is true for me, Prof. DeLong.) And here is Bob Wenzel making the most sense out of this that I have yet seen.

The Great Cash Balance Debate of 2011: Answering the Critics

[UPDATE: I tweaked the example to have Bernanke pay Jim to perform a service, rather than giving an outright gift. I don’t want us to get bogged down over whether a gift should be counted as “income” since that’s not essential to the argument.] We have made unbelievable progress. Major Freedom hasn’t thrown in the […]