Paul Krugman and the “Ersatz” Theory of Private Currencies
“Private paper currencies, including notes issued by ordinary commercial banks without the benefit of official guarantees, have never been driven to extinction by the mere presence of official alternatives.” ~ George Selgin
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The US-China Currency Rivalry: Choosing Sides
“Whether China’s currency will shave off a sizable portion of the dollar’s global usage is yet to be seen. Still, there is no doubt that the world is entering a new monetary rebalancing.” ~ Ethan Yang & Dorothy Chan
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The Other Side
“The fine arts improve our lives. They uplift the spirit, and can help alleviate the problems intrinsic to material and monetary life. But a desire for beauty and elevation should not be conflated with the desire for money.” ~ Robert Edward Gordon
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A Marvelous, Humanitarian Substance
“Adjustments of money prices are the easiest and most obvious way of causing each other to overlook goods’ and services’ non-monetary aspects that would otherwise reduce the amount of mutually advantageous exchange that occurs.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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The Unfolding Tragedy In Turkey Underscores Preeminence of Currency Policy
“Hedging can mitigate currency lurches, but it can’t reverse the initial theft. Currency policy rates top-of-the-pyramid attention, but doesn’t get it. Turkey’s struggles remind us of currency policy’s preeminence.” ~ John Tamny
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A Three-Pronged Blunder, or, What Money Is, and What It Isn’t
“Can we please junk the stupid three-function definition of money? So what if textbook writers keep repeating it? It’s incoherent. It’s based on some earlier economists’ sloppy reading of Jevons’s classic treatment.” ~ George Selgin
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Not Worth a Continental
“In hindsight, it is difficult to fathom how the patriots erred so grievously in issuing paper money during the Revolution. At least a certain amount of them were aware that only a limited amount of paper money could be issued before engendering an inflationary spiral.” ~ Clifford F. Thies
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What Is Money, Anyway?
“Rather than it being evil, it should deserve respect since it lays claim to the production of goods and services that do not yet exist. Even more boldly, when earned non-fraudulently, money represents a debt society owes you.” ~ David Gillette
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The Political History of Silver in America
“The history of metals as monetary commodities is long, difficult, and highly contentious. With The Story of Silver, William Silber has earned his spot on that part of the library shelf.” ~ Joakim Book
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Money is What You Hold Between Production and Consumption
“What monetary competition and the search for a new-and-improved regime does so well is indicate the necessity of money to move value through time and space. That search continues.” ~ Joakim Book
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Will Cash Soon Be Obsolete?
“Perhaps these trends will reverse. But it seems more likely that the reports of the forthcoming death of cash have been greatly exaggerated––that is, so long as the government doesn’t kill it.” ~ William J. Luther
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To CBDC or Not to CBDC?
“The risks of building a US or Canadian CBDC are all worth taking on if the problems that they solve are significant. Unfortunately, some of the problems that CBDC advocates want to target, like the threat of China, aren’t really problems. Others, like the stimulus payments problem, can’t be solved by a CBDC.” ~ J.P. Koning
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