The government’s ability to print money at will is a nearly unquestioned feature of today’s economic order, but recent crises have highlighted its hazards.
Author: Samuel Gregg (Samuel Gregg)
The Gold Standard: A Principled Case
In charting our future monetary policies, we should remember the trade-offs of competing alternatives.
Fatal Attraction: Democracy and the Welfare State
Expansive and expensive welfare programs have brought European social democracies to the verge of catastrophe. Now the dynamics of democracy may be an impediment to economic reform.
Europe’s Monetary Sins
The bailout of Greece is a stunning about-face that calls into question Europe’s commitment to a stable currency.
Beyond Sovereignty: Money and its Future
Is it time to consider internationalizing or privatizing our money supply?
Economic Liberalism and its Discontents
If we are to restore confidence in free markets, we need a robust explanation of their moral value.
Free Trade, Utility, and the Good
Economists and other social scientists should take into account the integral flourishing of human beings and not just material utility. After doing so, defense of free trade becomes more—not less—important.
Free Trade as Prosperity, Free Trade as Human Right
Free trade is not only good economic policy, it is a human right that should not be restricted lightly.
Rethinking Economics in the Post-Crisis World
In the wake of the financial crisis, we need an economics with greater humility about its predictive power and an increased understanding of the complicated human beings who, when the discipline is rightly understood, lie at its center.
Whither Central Banking?
At a moment of increased government involvement in the economy, the solution we need might be a more independent central bank.
Government Mortgage Relief: Economically Flawed and Morally Dubious
Homeownership has long been part of the American Dream, but current government plans to keep more people in their homes reflect the influence of failed economic policies from the past and may encourage more risky decision making in the future.
Risky Business: Keynes, Moral Hazard, and the Economic Crisis
If governments do not take moral hazard seriously, their response to the present recession may sow the seeds of a future economic crisis.
No More Bretton Woods
While this weekend's conference threatens to repeat the failures of Bretton Woods, the work of economist Wilhelm Röpke may recommend a more successful approach.