Too much credit and easy money. Those were the biggest culprits behind this financial crisis. Yet, apallingly, the government's rescue attempt is built on more credit and even easier money. That's like giving a procrastinator a deadline extension. By choosing this course, Washington has steered us on to the "road to Weimar" – the road to runaway inflation.

It didn't have to come to this. And it still doesn't. But the proper remedy will take tremendous political courage: Bring back the gold standard. That, more than any byzantine regulations that emerge from the Bretton Woods II conference this weekend, would provide stability and safety for nations and individuals around the world.

Read the full article

On Thursday, November 13, 2008, AIER hosted the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System's (WMRLS) Annual Meeting. Almost 50 librarians showed up at AIER's beautiful 100+ acre campus.

For more information about holding an event at AIER, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director of Communications.

Charles Murray, president of the American Institute for Economic Research (AEIR), a nonprofit research and educational organization, said most people have only a vague notion about the total expense of owning and operating personal vehicles.

Yet, "the amount spent could negatively effect educational opportunities and housing quality and could lead to reduced retirement income." he said.

Read the full story

Americans will spend an average of $320,000 during the course of their driving lifetimes on owning and operating motor vehicles.

This represents a 28 percent increase since 2003, according to the American Institute for Economic Research (AEIR), a nonprofit research and educational organization.

According to AIER president Charles Murray, the more than 25 percent increase in costs since 2003 is being driven by four factors--depreciation, insurance, taxes, and, not surprisingly, oil and gas.

Before you make a decision, though, you might want to get a handle on "What Your Car Really Costs," courtesy of the American Institute of Economic Research.

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA - The American Institute for Economic Research is pleased to announce a new partnership with the scholarly journal Econ Journal Watch.

EJW is a maverick journal of academic economics. It publishes critical commentary of leading economic research and analysis of the economics profession.

EJW is edited by Daniel Klein, a professor of economics at George Mason University. “The partnership is a match made in heaven,” said Klein. “Both outfits have a spirit of independent thought and critical discussion. We are honored by AIER’s decision to partner with us. AIER has a great tradition of integrating empirical evidence and conceptual understanding. We gain by their high reputation.”

Senior Research Fellow Richard Ebeling was quoted in the Detroit News in a piece concerning the FDIC insurance of bank accounts:

Now that the feds have expanded coverage at federally insured banks, you're covered for up to a quarter of a million dollars at a single financial institution, notes Richard Ebeling, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Mass. And it's even more if you're married or have retirement accounts.

"A couple is covered for up to half a million dollars, which is a lot more pocket change than most people walk around with," Ebeling says.

It's even more, he notes, if you combine individual and joint accounts with Individual Retirement Accounts invested in bank certificates of deposit.

AIER's What Your Car Really Costs was featured in Camden, NJ's Courier Post:

AIER Visiting Research Fellow Craig Richardson's article on property rights in China has been featured in Barron's:

MOST EXPERTS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AGREE that the rule of law -- with secure property rights, enforcement of contracts, and freedom from regulation and special privilege favoring one group over others -- are important prerequisites for prosperity. This makes China, in the eyes of most, an exception.

Since the mid-1980s, an estimated 40 million peasant farmers have had their land expropriated for commercial development, for a tiny fraction of the land's value. The Washington-based Property Rights Alliance constructed an International Property Rights Index last year, ranking China 46th of 70 countries, right after Colombia.

Senior Research Fellow Richard Ebeling was featured in an OpEd in the Salt Lake City Deseret News:

The federal government has decided to use $250 billion of the $700 billion financial-sector bailout package to buy equity shares in many of America's largest financial institutions, partially nationalizing the banking industry.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says buying shares in companies like Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo is necessary in order to inject liquidity and confidence in the world financial markets.

The Treasury Department, Paulson says, will buy up to $25 billion in preferred, nonvoting shares of each of the targeted companies. The shares will pay annual dividends of 5 percent for the first five years and 9 percent after that.

The rationale for Washington doing this is that it will calm the markets, allow banks to resume lending, and address the public relations problem arising from the public's dislike of the government's plan to take bad mortgages off these companies' hands at taxpayer expense — without guaranteeing whether and at what price they will be resold back into the market.

Read the full article