Topic: Economic Education

Adele Spitzeder, the Queen of Confidence Tricksters

– May 2, 2022

“Adele Spitzeder (1832-1895) was active in Bavaria from 1869 to 1872. She founded and operated the Dachauer Bank, which may have been the first Ponzi scheme in history.” ~ Robert F. Mulligan

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Can Capitalism Survive? 80 Years After Schumpeter’s Answer

– May 1, 2022

“Our task is to do all in our power and ability to revive an understanding of and inspire a desire to preserve, restore, and extend the ideal and practice of the truly free society.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

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Political Paternalism, Not Free Markets, Cause Economic Shocks

– April 29, 2022

“What we are suffering from is not a crisis of ‘capitalism,’ or free markets, or ‘neoliberalism.’ We are facing the consequences of the interventionist and regulatory state.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

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Tolstoy, Smith, and the Perils of Loneliness

– April 29, 2022

“What ultimately renders Smith’s discussion of the social passions so necessary today is his deep respect for their inherent dignity—our need to love and be loved does not flow from anything else.” ~ Richard Gunderman

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The Possibilities Inspire: A Review of ‘Check Your Financial Privilege’

– April 28, 2022

“Across the world, Gladstein’s investigative journalism shows how Bitcoin is a tool for individuals and communities to protect their wealth and promote their well-being in the face of repressive regimes. It is a sobering perspective” ~ David Waugh

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Asymmetric Average Inflation Targeting and Expectations

– April 27, 2022

“A conventional average inflation target would have anchored expectations and reduced the inflation risk of long-term contracting, promoting economic growth in the process. An asymmetric average inflation target falls far short of that goal.” ~ William J. Luther

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Boosting Black Fortunes

– April 26, 2022

“This brief primer does an excellent job of reminding us that economic freedom benefits the poor and marginalized the most, and that minorities can be progressing economically in spite of the tasteless rhetoric of our political class.” ~ Rachel Ferguson

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Supply Disturbances Do Not Explain High Inflation

– April 25, 2022

“Unfortunately for the administration, their politically-convenient supply-side stories explain far too little. Today’s inflation is primarily the result of excessive nominal spending, which the Fed could have and should have offset.” ~ William J. Luther

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Mandate Drift at the Fed Is Par for the Course

– April 24, 2022

“We must decide, so long as we have a central bank, what we want it to do. The best feasible reforms tighten the Fed’s leash. A constrained Fed is a competent Fed. A drifting Fed is a danger to the public.” ~ Alexander William Salter

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Learning Street Corner Economics in London

– April 23, 2022

“An overseas experience affords plenty of ways to put the tools and principles of economics students have been taught to work, perhaps the best way to real mastery of ‘street-corner economics.’” ~ Gary M. Galles

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Review of The Sovereign Consumer: A New Intellectual History of Neoliberalism

– April 22, 2022

“The emphasis on consumer sovereignty helps clarify the discussion, and this is a book intellectual historians, economic historians, and historians of economic thought can read profitably.” ~ Art Carden

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Trade, Debt, and Growth

– April 21, 2022

“What are we getting for this unprecedented debt? Mostly, all it’s purchased for us is political leadership which can only charitably be characterized as mediocre.” ~ Robert F. Mulligan

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