Tag Archives: 6b) Mises.org

Bank reserves are seldom mentioned except in cases of bank runs. The other possible mention is all the interest money the Fed pays to banks simply for holding reserves. Mark explains the role of bank reserves in the current "system" and gives a brief explanation of why the Austrian view is better and actually gets the job done. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues. [embedded content]...

The Argentine peso has lost half its value in one year. Both the official and parallel exchange rates with the US dollar and the Mexican peso have doubled in one year. Consumer prices have doubled in one year. The quantity of Argentine pesos has doubled in one year. All the rates at which these variables are increasing have also doubled in one year. Expecting everything to double again in half a year is now a conservative projection. Argentina was the richest country...

[Originally from Joseph R. Peden and Fred R. Glahe, eds., The American Family and the State (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 1986).] While the "Progressive Era" used to be narrowly designated as the period 1900–1914, historians now realize that the period is really much broader, stretching from the latter decades of the nineteenth century into the early 1920s. The broader period marks an era in which the entire American polity—from economics to urban...

Federal Reserve data shows $98 billion of deposits left the banking system in the week after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Most of the money went to money-market funds, as the Bloomberg data shows that assets in this class rose by $121 billion in the same period. The data shows the challenges of the banking system in the middle of a confidence crisis. However, as many analysts point out, this is not necessarily the main factor that dictates the risk of a credit...

Both artists and athletes perform for others. When governments get involved it either is for subsidies or censorship. Neither is satisfactory. Original Article: "The Economics of Arts and Culture" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

After the hate crime against Christians perpetrated by a transgender shooter in Nashville in March 2023, there was the usual outcry to ban firearms. Days after the killing spree, activists staged an insurrection at the Tennessee State Capitol calling for tougher gun laws. This despite the fact that many in favor of gun control politicized the violence and called for more of it. However, the most jarring of all the gun-ban reactions to the Nashville attack was, to my...

Jonathan Newman joins Bob to critique a recent Twitter argument where some were claiming that supercomputers solved the socialist calculation problem. The Twitter thread on AI and Socialism: Mises.org/HAP394a Bob on Socialism and calculation vs knowledge: Mises.org/HAP394b Karras Lambert and Tate Fegley on economic calculation and AI: Mises.org/HAP394c [embedded content] [embedded content]...

Is Social Justice Just?Edited by Robert M. Whaples, Michael C. Munger, and Christopher J. CoyneIndependent Institute, 2023; xxiii + 348 pp. Before one can answer the question posed by this excellent book’s title, one needs to ask what social justice is, and answering this proves to be no easy task. As Robert Whaples says, “For many, the term social justice is baffling and useless, with no real meaning. Most who use it argue that social justice is the moral fairness...

Austrian economics is defined by its adherence to the a priori methodology, not empiricism. That places it at odds with mainstream economics, which stresses the methodology of positivism. Original Article: "Austrian Economists and Empiricism" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The US Department of Energy has recently announced two new rules banning the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs starting in July 2022 and phasing in standards across industries over the following months. The Biden administration claims that this ban is a cost-saving measure that will “save consumers about $3 billion annually when fully implemented.” However, the net impact of this policy is unclear since the substitution of incandescents for LED lights comes...