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Bitcoin, the world’s first form of digital cash, is a nascent invention that has overturned centuries of commonly-held assumptions about monetary policy and the role of government in the provision of money. Whereas universities have long taught that money can only be provided by a government that guarantees it and demands its use in taxation, Bitcoin has thrived for eight years without any government backing it, tantalizingly offering a glimpse of a future separation between state and money, starving government of the fuel that powers its totalitarian impulses and warlike tendencies.
READ MOREIn my last article and blog on Bitcoin, I discussed some issues that Bitcoin faced from consolidation and the increasing professionalization of Bitcoin “mining.” These issues may soon be coming to a head in an argument about Bitcoin’s underlying code that offers two divergent paths for the future of Bitcoin – or a third way in which it splits into two separate assets. This possibility is both a serious concern for Bitcoin users and investors.
READ MOREThe ways of the regulatory state go like this: when a crisis erupts, don’t ask how earlier government interventions may have made the crisis possible or worse than it would have been. Rather, denounce private greed, declare good intentions, pile new regulations atop old, and hope for the best.
READ MOREWe ought to know by now that good intentions alone cannot make a government policy beneficial. Since the law of economics—market forces—are inexorable, we should not expect even good will to withstand them. “Nature to be commanded,” Francis Bacon said, “must be obeyed.” Similarly, if market forces are to serve society, they must be respected.
READ MOREThe AIER Business-Cycle Conditions Leaders index rose to 83 in March, the highest level in two and a half years (Chart 1). The Coinciders index rose to a perfect 100, the highest level since September 2015, while the Laggers index pulled back to 83 fro …
READ MOREAIER’s monthly Everyday Price Index decreased 0.2 percent in March. A decline in prices of household fuels, utilities, and telephone service offset higher food prices. The EPI measures price changes that people see in everyday purchases such as groceri …
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The level and growth of a nation’s private debt, more than public debt, predicts the worst recessions.
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The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 suspended the debt ceiling through mid-March of this year. On March 16, the debt ceiling was raised to the current level. When the debt ceiling is reached, the Treasury will not be able to issue more debt to borrow new funds from the public. Instead, the Treasury must take extraordinary measures to raise cash. Extraordinary measures are policies that temporarily lower the national debt by reducing the Treasury securities held by government agencies—known as intragovernmental debt.
READ MOREFew areas of life are as poorly understood as trade. This is remarkable because each of us engages in trade every day. We buy our groceries, clothing, electronics, etc. from other people rather than making them ourselves. If we didn’t think trade was worthwhile, we wouldn’t do it. But we do—because we know how poor we would be if each of tried to make all the things we want.
READ MOREAmericans currently owe about $1.5 trillion in student debt. Issuance of student loans has risen drastically in recent decades, and as a college degree becomes increasingly important, the loans look to continue to be a part of many young Americans’ economic lives. In this article, I examine existing answers to two main questions: why student debt has risen so much, and whether or for whom the returns to education justify this level of borrowing.
READ MOREBy now we should have figured out the cure for what ails the American health care system: a regimen of unadulterated competition. It’s just what the doctor (of sound economics, that is) would order.
READ MOREIf California regulators thought tomato baron Chris Rufer would roll over and quietly pay a $1.5 million fine then they picked the wrong guy.
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