Topic: Fiscal Policy

The Great Reflation

– July 21, 2010

“The financial crisis, the speculative bubble leading up to it, and the aftermath have proven once again just how true the old saying is that if you want to know what’s going on in the financial system, watch the banks. The banking system has always be …

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“An Old Battlefront Returns in War on Euro”

– July 8, 2010

“In 1998, four renegade German professors tried to stop the introduction of the euro with a legal challenge in Germany’s highest court. Now, 12 years later, they are fighting against a German bailout for Greece — and this time around, people are liste …

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Debt to GDP: Who Really Carries the Burden?

– July 7, 2010

Over recent months, much has been made of the rapid increase in public debt levels. Protests against excess government spending in the U.S. and severe economic problems in debt-laden European countries have forced the federal debt to the forefront of n …

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Highlighting Hayek

– July 7, 2010

Is the world finally looking to the ideas of Friedrich Hayek? It appears that the intellectual debate may be heading in a new direction. Stimulus spending has done practically nothing to reduce unemployment or spur growth; instead it has merely inflate …

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Keynes vs. Hayek: The Great Debate Continues

– July 7, 2010

The debates raging over what policies will pull the U.S. economy out of its Great Recession replicate one that occurred during the Great Depression. Thanks to the efforts of Richard Ebeling, a professor of economics at Northwood University, we have com …

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“Liquidity Trap or Malinvested Resources?”

– July 7, 2010

“Many people claim today that the U.S. economy is in a “liquidity trap” and only government can spend us out of this mess. Commentators from Paul Krugman to Martin Wolf of the Financial Times assert we are in a “Keynesian situation”; unless government …

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The U.S. Debt Burden

– July 6, 2010

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the U.S. public debt-to-GDP ratio has been receiving special attention. A recent report from the Treasury to Congress said that the ratio of total government debt to nominal GPD will rise from 93 percent this y …

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“Fed’s Fisher sees slower U.S. Growth Ahead”

– July 6, 2010

“In the second half of 2010, the U.S. will experience “slower economic growth than we’ve had in the first and second quarter,” Fisher told the Japanese business daily Nikkei. He estimated U.S. growth of 2%-3%, saying that the figure will likely come “c …

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“The Use of Knowledge in Society”

– June 30, 2010

“The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits o …

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The United States: Deficit Champion

– June 30, 2010

“Evidence that the current Administration is taking a different tack on economic policy was abundant at the recent Group of 20 (G-20) meetings in Toronto. The European governments, led by Germany, were arguing for deficit and debt reduction while the U …

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“A Fiscal Theory of Government’s Role in Money”

– June 30, 2010

“As an alternative to market failure explanations, we draw on theory and historical evidence to argue that fiscal considerations explain the roles governments typically play in producing and regulating money. Public monopoly production of coins and ban …

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“Why Obamanomics Has Failed”

– June 30, 2010

“The administration’s stimulus program has failed. Growth is slow and unemployment remains high. The president, his friends and advisers talk endlessly about the circumstances they inherited as a way of avoiding responsibility for the 18 months for whi …

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