Austerity, A New Weaselword
The financial press has become inundated with the word “austerity.” Since Greece’s left-wing Syriza proclaimed an “anti-austerity revolution,” strong adjectives, …
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Ukraine Hyperinflates
Since the New Year, Ukraine’s currency – the hryvnia – has collapsed, losing 51 percent of its value against the …
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China: Hot Money In, Now Out
For some years, hot money flowed in, adding massively to China’s foreign reserve stockpile. Speculators borrowed cheaply in U.S. dollars …
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Audit the Fed: What Would Milton Friedman Say?
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a bill (S.264) which is popularly known as “Audit the Fed” (ATF). The bill picked …
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MENA’s Misery Indices, a Story of Economic Failure
In my misery index, I calculate a ranking for all countries where suitable data exist. The misery index — a …
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On the Great Inflation Canard
Charles W. Calomiris and Peter Ireland, two distinguished economists and friends, wrote an edifying piece in The Wall Street Journal …
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