Money

Archive for Money

Keynesian Policies: Not Dumb, But Foolish

My sympathetic analysis of Matt Yglesias’ awkward situation vis-a-vis Argentina. The money quote: So there you have it, folks: Countries that historically have been ill-governed should follow Argentina’s lead by defaulting on their debts and debasing their currencies, but they should stop right before the bad consequences of these actions come home to roost. Simple […]

Bob Murphy vs. Bill Still

It’s the master of disaster versus the Money Master. It was supposed to be about money, but then we took off the gloves and started talking anarchy. Oh boy. When I saw the crowd was with him early on, I had to break out my Jimmy Stewart impression. I wasn’t screwing around. Incidentally, I have […]

Potpourri

==> I’m being serious: Mark Spitznagel sent me this, and neither of us can tell if this is a complete fabrication about “Krugman’s response.” Thoughts? I’d call in the world’s leading forensic expert on the writing of Paul Krugman, but that would present a conflict of interest. ==> What kind of crazy upside down world […]

More on Krugman and Fiat Money

At Mises Canada I explored Krugman’s glib assertion about fiat money being “backed by men with guns” a little more deeply: Furthermore, it’s obvious that Krugman’s “explanation” would have no way of accounting for changes in either variable. For example, in the 1970s in the United States, price inflation took off dramatically, meaning the purchasing […]

Krugman: “Fiat Money…Is Backed By Men With Guns”

Wow, you really have to hand it to Paul Krugman. In the quick snippet below, he talks to Joe Weisenthal about Bitcoin. Krugman reiterates his surprise that it has lasted this long, but admits that it’s theoretically possible for an asset not backed by anything to chug along because of a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, Krugman […]

The Difference Between Higher Prices and Rising Prices

OK, my post about Williamson’s QE argument left some people confused. It sounded like I was saying that price inflation causes people to want to hold more money. Huh? The problem here is confusing higher prices with rising prices. The two are obviously quite related, but they’re not the same thing. I’ll state two principles, […]

The Real Flaw in Williamson’s Inflation Argument?

Wow, I don’t know if you kids have been following the blow-up over Stephen Williamson’s arguments about QE–I gave you a hint in this Potpourri when talking about Nick Rowe’s blog rage–but it has the potential to rival the Great Debt Debate of 2012. At this point we’ve got a full-blown shooting war, with Williamson, […]

Murphy vs. Yglesias On Chinese Bond Purchases

In this Daily Caller article I dispute Matt Yglesias’ recent argument that the Chinese government exercises no leverage over the American government because it buys so much of its debt. An excerpt: The only way to completely offset both [rising U.S. Treasury yields] and [rising U.S. consumer prices], is if foreign investors are willing to […]