Topic: Currency

The Unfolding Tragedy In Turkey Underscores Preeminence of Currency Policy

– December 12, 2021

“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

– November 13, 2021

“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

– November 3, 2021

“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?

– September 22, 2021

“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

– September 7, 2021

“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

– August 15, 2021

“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?

– July 23, 2021

“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?

– July 5, 2021

“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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Problems of Federal Reserve Policy—and How to Solve Them

– June 8, 2021

“To stabilize the economy, informed citizens must study the faults of discretionary central banking and call for reforms to protect against them. ‘Money and the Rule of Law’ accomplishes the first goal. The second is up to us.” ~ Thomas L. Hogan

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The Promise of Cryptocurrencies

– April 7, 2021

“Cryptocurrencies have the potential to improve upon both commodity and fiat monies. If designed properly, a cryptocurrency would anchor long-run expectations and provide timely supply adjustments at a lower cost than commodity and fiat monies.” ~ William J. Luther

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Bitcoin Bros Rediscovering Our Monetary Past

– March 15, 2021

“For all the revolutionary creed that surrounds the emerging monetary commodity that is bitcoin, it seems that its future more and more resembles the past it tried to escape. Happy times for us monetary nerds.” ~ Joakim Book

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The Utter Futility of a Bitcoin Ban

– February 26, 2021

“Throughout history, governments have identified emerging threats and sought to eliminate them through heavy-handed bans, or regulations so stringent that they are effectively bans themselves. But the only thing that is guaranteed through these actions is certainly not the eradication of the ‘undesirable’ product or behavior––it’s the human tendency to find new and innovative workarounds in the face of obstacles.” ~ Peter C. Earle

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