Tag Archives: 6b) Austrian Economics

The electricity prices reflect the supply and demand conditions in Europe and interfering with the price formation mechanism would have dangerous consequences. Since the end of 2021, we have witnessed unprecedented price levels in the European electricity markets, with an increase in electricity prices by 200% within less than a year. This tense market situation was further perpetuated by geopolitical events, namely the Russian invasion of Ukraine, impacting gas...

Day 56 April 20 4-year old Alisa is begging to be evacuated from under siege Mariupol. So are thousands of others after about 50 days underground. But russia won’t allow it. They are holding these people hostage, watching them die slowly and painfully one by one. Source: Nataliya Melnyk on Facebook ********************************************************* Day 55 A big thank you from my little shelter van Goghs to everyone who helps us keep them distracted...

Can Russia Enact a Gold Standard? In Part I we discussed how the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine will lead to inflation, but not in the way most people think.  In Part II we discuss the possibility of Russia repudiating the dollar and going on a gold standard. Can they do it? How would the world react? Why not enact a Bitcoin Standard instead? The Russian central bank reportedly has over 2,000 tonnes of gold. We have seen three arguments repeated many...

Dear Readers, the following post has been published on the 3rd of March 2014. Due to the recent historical events we are reposting it, conscient of the prescience of the meanwhile passed author, Pater Tenebrarum. Michael, Editor Russian Troops in the Crimea John Kerry is appropriately aghast at the “incredible act of aggression” by Russia in the Ukraine: “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely...

Opposing Monetary Directions “Real estate is the future of the monetary system,” declares a real estate bug. Does this make any sense? We would ask him this. “OK how will houses be borrowed and lent?” “Look at this housing bond,” he says, pointing to a bond denominated in dollars, with principal and interest paid in dollars. “What do you mean ‘housing’ bond’,” we ask, “it’s a bond denominated in dollars!” “Yes, but housing is the collateral.” OK, so it’s not a...

On November 4-5, the 10th Austrian Economics Conference took place at the Austrian Central Bank (Österreichische Nationalbank). The event was organized in collaboration with the Fundación Bases and the Hayek Institut and received more than 150 academics, researchers, think-tankers, entrepreneurs, and student advocates of the ideas of freedom from all over the world. #RestartVienna became a great motivation for the promoters of the ideas of the Austrian School to...

The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s was a comprehensive effort by Mao Zedong to regulate how people think and behave. Citizens were forced to read the “Red Bible” and honor the Communist Party with quasi-religious rituals. Mutual supervision was encouraged throughout all of society. People were told that the way of thinking and behavior advocated by Mao Zedong was the only correct one. Sixty years later, China is undergoing another Cultural Revolution, the goal...

Throughout the next weeks, we will regularly feature the keynote speeches held by our distinguished experts at this year’s digital Free Market Road Show.  The times we are living in – the pandemic – are times when our fundamental values are threatened maybe more than ever in modern times. More than ever in modern times because we are living not in a time of containment, with an Iron Curtain, or a Bamboo Curtain, dividing the world in two as in the Cold...

Putting the World on a Paper Standard Half a century ago one of the most disastrous monetary policy decisions in US history was committed by Richard Nixon.  In a television address, the president declared that the nation would no longer redeem internationally dollars for gold.  Since the dollar was the world’s reserve currency, Nixon’s closing of the “Gold Window” put the world on an irredeemable paper monetary standard. The ramifications of the act reverberate to...

Lessons to be Learned from East Asia The world should take a lesson from how East Asia ran itself in 2020. Japan had no lockdown. None. With an aging population, its death rate has been creeping up for many years. In 2020, it fell by 0.7%, as if Covid-19 was a life-saver. The Prime Minister of Singapore repeatedly appeared on TV to advise people to live normally and not let fear dominate. Taiwan had a total of 623 Covid-19 related deaths [ed. note: there were only...