Categories
Economics Video Link

Inflation: The Econometric Mirage

Just some quick thoughts on why monetary inflation might look “good” from an econometric perspective, while hiding the negative effects.

The shortest argument seems to be that the “positive GDP” effects of monetary inflation hit immediately, while the “negative GDP” effects hit later. That allows politicians and economists to blame other factors for the downturn.

It’s also worth remembering that GDP makes the mistake of assuming a dollar spent by the government is equivalent to a dollar spent by the private sector, as far as satisfying the actual needs and wants of people.

I’ve handled that fallacy in this article at the Mises Wire.

This video is available on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

Categories
Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter 11, part 2

Most of this part of the chapter is devoted to the efforts and agitation to reflate prices up to their pre-depression levels.

Fortunately, quite a few of these efforts fizzled out, but enough made it into official policy that the economy suffered another blow at the end of the year, after a small uptick.

Categories
Economics Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Five

This chapter is about the “genetics” of the inflation, rather than the “anatomy,” to use Rothbard’s words. Basically, in this chapter, we’re interested in the cast of characters and how they were interacting.

Our primary characters are Benjamin Strong, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during most of the 1920s, and Montagu Norman, head of the Bank of England at the same time.

Rothbard describes their interactions and secret backroom deals to push more inflation and make the inevitable depression worse!

Read my show notes here.

This video is available on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

References:

Harris, Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy
https://archive.org/details/twentyyearsoffed0000seym/page/n7/mode/2up

Lary, The United States in the World Economy: The International Transactions of the United States During the Interwar Period
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/united-states-world-economy-9204?page=3

Berglund, The Tariff Act of 1922
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1804045.pdf

Beckhart, The New York Money Market
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/beck93862/html?lang=en#contents

Smith, Facing the Facts; An Economic Diagnosis
https://archive.org/details/facingfactsecono0000smit

Putnam, What Shall We Do About Depressions?
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2349663

Aldrich, The Causes of the Present Depression and Possible Remedies
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Causes_of_the_Present_Depression_and.html?id=iijIAAAAMAAJ

Viner, Political Aspects of International Finance
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2349238.pdf

Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov

Viner, Political Aspects of International Finance II
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2349531.pdf

Warren, Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
https://archive.org/details/herberthoovergre0000warr_f2d0

Robbins, The Great Depression
https://mises.org/library/book/great-depression

Beveridge, Unemployment: A Problem of Industry
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=1qgrAQAAMAAJ&rdid=book-1qgrAQAAMAAJ&rdot=1

Benham, British Monetary Policy
https://books.google.com/books/about/British_Monetary_Policy.html?id=cJovAAAAYAAJ

Clark, Central Banking Under the Federal Reserve System…
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/central-banking-federal-reserve-system-314

Rist, Notice Biographique
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24689652

Chandler, Benjamin Strong, Central Banker
https://archive.org/details/benjaminstrongce0000chan

Clay, Lord Norman
https://archive.org/details/lordnorman0000clay

Crosby, Commercial and Financial Chronicle (May 9, 1925)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/commercial-financial-chronicle-1339/may-9-1925-518311

Palyi, Review: The Meaning of the Gold Standard
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2349926

Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System
https://mises.org/library/book/credit-policies-federal-reserve-system

Adams, The International Gold Standard Reinterpreted
https://archive.org/details/internationalgol0002brow/mode/2up

Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare
https://archive.org/details/economicspublicw0000ande/mode/2up

Warburg, The Federal Reserve System (Vol. 2)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/books/frsorigin1930/frsorigin_warburg_1930v2.pdf

Willis, The Failure of the Federal Reserve
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25110746

Reed, Federal Reserve Policy 1921-1930
https://archive.org/details/federalreservepo0000haro/page/n7/mode/2up

Abbott, The New York Bond Market, 1920-1930
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_New_York_Bond_Market_1920_1930.html?id=z0wUAQAAMAAJ

Snyder, Capitalism the Creator
https://mises.org/library/book/capitalism-creator

Hoyt, The Effect of Cyclical Fluctuations Upon Real Estate Finance (Speech)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/fdic/speeches/hoyt_19470125.pdf

Hoyt, The Effect of Cyclical Fluctuations Upon Real Estate Finance
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2975516

Durant, Commercial and Financial Chronicle (April 20, 1929)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/commercial-financial-chronicle-1339/april-20-1929-516890

Lawrence, Wall Street and Washington
https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/521500
https://books.google.com/books/about/Wall_street_and_Washington.html?id=93tEAAAAIAAJ

Irving, The Stock Market Crash–and After
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_stock_market_crash_and_after.html?id=mYREAAAAIAAJ

Beckhart, Federal Reserve Policy and the Money Market, 1923-1931
I could not find a good source, even paywalled, for this article. Best I could find was a citation, here:
https://www.econbiz.de/Record/federal-reserve-policy-and-the-money-market-1923-1931-beckhart-benjamin-haggott/10001892048

Willis & Chapman, The Economics of Inflation
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/will93390/html?lang=en

Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System
https://mises.org/library/book/credit-policies-federal-reserve-system

Phillips, Banking and the Business Cycle
https://mises.org/library/book/banking-and-business-cycle

Noyes, The Gold Inflation in the United States 1921-1929
https://www.jstor.org/stable/418

Categories
Economics Essay Video Link

Inflationary Expectations

In this article by Frank Shostak, I think he’s made a bit of a mistake. It may be that I’m missing some subtle point, but I really do think I’m on to something here.