Recent Arguments Against the Gold Standard Lawrence H
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Virtual Currencies in the Eurosystem: Challenges Ahead
STUDY Requested by the ECON committee Virtual currencies in the Eurosystem: challenges ahead Monetary Dialogue July 2018 Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies Authors: Rosa María LASTRA, Jason Grant ALLEN Directorate-General for Internal Policies EN PE 619.020 – July 2018 Virtual currencies in the Eurosystem: challenges ahead Monetary Dialogue July 2018 Abstract Speculation on Bitcoin, the evolution of money in the digital age, and the underlying blockchain technology are attracting growing interest. In the context of the Eurosystem, this briefing paper analyses the legal nature of privately issued virtual currencies (VCs), the implications of VCs for central bank’s monetary policy and monopoly of note issue, and the risks for the financial system at large. The paper also considers some of the proposals concerning central bank issued virtual currencies. This document was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. AUTHORS Rosa María LASTRA, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London Jason Grant ALLEN, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Centre for British Studies, University of New South Wales Centre for Law Markets and Regulation ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSIBLE Dario PATERNOSTER EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Janetta CUJKOVA LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE EDITOR Policy departments provide in-house and external expertise to support EP committees -
The Cases of the Liberty Dollar and E-Gold Lawrence H
The Troubling Suppression of Competition from Alternative Monies: The Cases of the Liberty Dollar and E-gold Lawrence H. White Proposals abound for reforming monetary policy by instituting a less-discretionary or nondiscretionary system (“rules”) for a fiat- money-issuing central bank to follow. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee could be given a single mandate or more gener- ally an explicit loss function to minimize (e.g., the Taylor Rule). The FOMC could be replaced by a computer that prescribes the mone- tary base as a function of observed macroeconomic variables (e.g., the McCallum Rule). The role of determining the fiat monetary base could be stripped from the FOMC and moved to a prediction mar- ket (as proposed by Scott Sumner or Kevin Dowd). Alternative pro- posals call for commodity money regimes. The dollar could be redefined in terms of gold or a broader commodity bundle, with redeemability for Federal Reserve liabilities being reinstated. Or all Federal Reserve liabilities could actually be redeemed and retired, en route to a fully privatized gold or commodity-bundle standard (White 2012). All of these approaches assume that there will con- tinue to be a single monetary regime in the economy, so that the way to institute an alternative is to transform the dominant regime. Cato Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Spring/Summer 2014). Copyright © Cato Institute. All rights reserved. Lawrence H. White is Professor of Economics at George Mason University, a member of the Mercatus Center Financial Markets Working Group, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. 281 Cato Journal A different approach to monetary reform is to think about ways that alternative monetary standards might arise in the marketplace to operate in parallel with the fiat dollar, perhaps gradually to displace it. -
Law and Neoliberalism
INTRODUCTION_PURDY_GREWAL_BOOKPROOF (DO NOT DELETE) 1/9/2015 12:36 AM INTRODUCTION: LAW AND NEOLIBERALISM DAVID SINGH GREWAL* JEDEDIAH PURDY** “Neoliberalism” refers to the revival of the doctrines of classical economic liberalism, also called laissez-faire, in politics, ideas, and law. These revived doctrines have taken new form in new settings: the “neo-” means not just that they are back, but that they are also different, a new generation of arguments. What unites the two periods of economic liberalism is their political effect: the assertion and defense of particular market imperatives and unequal economic power against political intervention. Neoliberalism’s advance over the past few decades has reshaped most important domains of public and private life, and the law has been no exception. From constitutional doctrine to financial regulation to intellectual property and family law, market and market- mimicking approaches are now commonplace in our jurisprudence. While the term “neoliberalism” may be unfamiliar to some American legal audiences, it is a common part of the scholarly lexicons of many disciplines and is widely used elsewhere in the world, notably in Latin America and Europe. Some of the explanation for the term’s unfamiliarity may be parochialism.1 But in the United States in particular, neoliberalism’s political expression has proven less the reincarnation of a doctrine thought to be abandoned (classical liberalism) than the intensification of a familiar and longstanding “anti- regulatory” politics.2 Familiar as this political expression may be, it is our Copyright © 2014 by David Singh Grewal & Jedediah Purdy. This article is also available at http://lcp.law.duke.edu/. -
The Euro: It Can’T Happen
EUROPEAN ECONOMY Economic Papers 395| December 2009 The euro: It can’t happen. It’s a bad idea. It won’t last. US economists on the EMU, 1989 - 2002 Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea EUROPEAN COMMISSION Economic Papers are written by the Staff of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, or by experts working in association with them. The Papers are intended to increase awareness of the technical work being done by staff and to seek comments and suggestions for further analysis. The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. Comments and enquiries should be addressed to: European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Publications B-1049 Brussels Belgium E-mail: [email protected] This paper exists in English only and can be downloaded from the website ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications A great deal of additional information is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (ec.europa.eu) ISBN 978-92-79-14395-3 © European Communities, 2009 The euro: It can’t happen, It’s a bad idea, It won’t last. US economists on the EMU, 1989 - 2002 Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea November 10, 2009 Abstract: The purpose of this study is to survey how US economists, those with the Federal Reserve System and those at US universities, looked upon European monetary unification from the publication of the Delors Report in 1989 to the introduction of euro notes and coins in January 2002. Our survey of approximately 170 publications -
Completing the Eurozone Rescue: What More Needs to Be Done?
Completing the Eurozone Rescue: What More NeedstoBeDone? Rescue:WhatMore Completing theEurozone The Eurozone’s life-threatening crisis in May 2010 was halted when Eurozone Completing theEurozoneRescue: leaders and the ECB took strong measures in May. But these were palliatives not a cure. The Eurozone’s life-threatening crisis in May 2010 was halted Completing The crisis is not over, according to the dozen world-renowned economists whose when Eurozone leaders and the ECB took strong measures in views are containedMay. But in these this book. were The palliatives Eurozone notrescue a cure.needs to be completed. More needs to be done. The crisis is not over, according to the dozen world-renowned What MoreNeedstoBeDone? the Eurozone The Eurozoneeconomists ‘ship’ is holed whose below theviews waterline. are Thecontained ECB actions in are this keeping book. it The afl oat for now,Eurozone but this rescueis accomplished needs toby besomething completed. akin to More bailing needs the water to beas done. fast as it leaksThe in. EuropeanEurozone leaders ‘ship’ must is veryholed soon fibelow nd a way the to fi waterline.x the hole. The ECB Rescue: This book actionsgathers the are thinking keeping of ait dozenafloat world-class for now, economistsbut this is on accomplished what they by need to dosomething on banking-sector akin to clean bailing up, thefi scal water discipline, as fast structural as it leaks policies, in. andEuropean What More Needs to leaders must very soon find a way to fix the hole. more. This book gathers the thinking of a dozen world-class economists Be Done? on what they need to do on banking-sector clean up, fiscal discipline, structural policies, and more. -
Parallel Journeys: Adam Smith and Milton Friedman on the Regulation of Banking
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Rockoff, Hugh Working Paper Parallel journeys: Adam Smith and Milton Friedman on the regulation of banking Working Paper, No. 2010-04 Provided in Cooperation with: Department of Economics, Rutgers University Suggested Citation: Rockoff, Hugh (2010) : Parallel journeys: Adam Smith and Milton Friedman on the regulation of banking, Working Paper, No. 2010-04, Rutgers University, Department of Economics, New Brunswick, NJ This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/59460 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu February, 2010 Parallel Journeys: Adam Smith and Milton Friedman on the Regulation of Banking Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University and NBER Department of Economics 75 Hamilton Street New Brunswick NJ 08901 [email protected] 1 Abstract Adam Smith and Milton Friedman are famous for championing Laissez Faire, yet both supported government regulation of the banking system. -
1 European Monetary Unification and International Monetary Cooperation
c:\wp51\papers\cfr:12/16/96 European Monetary Unification and International Monetary Cooperation1 Barry Eichengreen and Fabio Ghironi University of California, Berkeley Revised, December 1996 Monetary affairs are not a leading sphere of U.S.-European cooperation. Were issues ranked by the extent of concerted and sustained cooperation, interest-rate and exchange-rate policy would surely fall behind security, financial-market regulation, and trade. Still, cooperation between the U.S. and Europe and among G-7 central banks and governments more generally has played a significant role on occasion, for example when the dollar soared in the mid-1980s and slumped in 1994, and during exceptional crises like the Mexican meltdown of 1995. European monetary unification, if and when it occurs, threatens to discourage even modest initiatives such as these. The European Central Bank (ECB) will assume tasks of the national central banks of the EU member states that participate in the monetary union. The Council of Ministers (in consultation with the ECB, the European Commission and the European Parliament) will make decisions regarding European participation in any new global exchange rate arrangement. European policymakers and others are understandably preoccupied by how these bodies will manage the monetary affairs of the newly-formed Euro zone, to the neglect of the implications for cooperation with the rest of the world. Many American observers essentially ignorant of the entire process. This development is unfortunate, for there is reason to think that EMU 1 The authors are John L. Simpson Professor of Economics and Political Science and Graduate Student in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. -
Nine Lives of Neoliberalism
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Plehwe, Dieter (Ed.); Slobodian, Quinn (Ed.); Mirowski, Philip (Ed.) Book — Published Version Nine Lives of Neoliberalism Provided in Cooperation with: WZB Berlin Social Science Center Suggested Citation: Plehwe, Dieter (Ed.); Slobodian, Quinn (Ed.); Mirowski, Philip (Ed.) (2020) : Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, ISBN 978-1-78873-255-0, Verso, London, New York, NY, https://www.versobooks.com/books/3075-nine-lives-of-neoliberalism This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/215796 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative -
Moral Hazard and the Financial Crisis
Centre for Risk & Insurance Studies enhancing the understanding of risk and insurance Moral Hazard and the Financial Crisis Kevin Dowd CRIS Discussion Paper Series – 2008.VI MORAL HAZARD AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS Kevin Dowd* “It’s like not being invited to a party and then being given the bill.” (Comment by a Wall Street passer-by on the bank bailout.) There is no denying that the current financial crisis – possibly the worst the world has ever seen and not over yet – has delivered a major seismic shock to the policy landscape. In country after country, we see governments panicked into knee-jerk responses and throwing their policy manuals overboard: bailouts and nationalizations on an unprecedented scale, fiscal prudence thrown to the winds and the return of no-holds-barred Keynesianism. Lurid stories of the excesses of ‘free’ competition – of greedy bankers walking away with hundreds of millions whilst taxpayers bail their institutions out, of competitive pressure to pay stratospheric bonuses and the like – are grist to the mill of those who tell us that ‘free markets have failed’ and that what we need now is bigger government. To quote just one writer out of many others saying much the same, “the pendulum will swing – and should swing – towards an enhanced role for government in saving the market system from its excesses and inadequacies” (Summers, 2008). Free markets have been tried and failed, so the argument goes,1 now we need more regulation and more active macroeconomic management. Associated with such arguments is the claim that the problem of moral hazard is overrated. -
Introduction to Political Economy Econ 119 / Poli 145 Fall 2012
Introduction to Political Economy Econ 119 / Poli 145 Fall 2012 M-W 10:05-11:20 a.m. Class: White Lecture Hall Prof. Michael Munger [email protected] Office: Perkins 338 cell phone (emergencies only!): 919 369 6453 Office Hours: • Immediately after class, in Trinity Cafe • Tuesday 1:30-3:00 pm in Perkins 338 Teaching Assistant: Anna Schultz email: [email protected] Overview: This course serves three distinct purposes. • The course is an introduction to economics for non-majors. It is a self-contained and non- technical overview of the history of economic thought, the logic of microeconomic analysis, and the definitions of everyday terms and concepts in the macro economy. Consequently, it counts as a stand-alone Social Science credit, but it does not count toward an Economics major. If you are thinking of an Economics major, this class is a waste of your time. Get the math prereq’s out of the way and then take Econ 51 instead. • It is an introduction to the history of the notion of a political economy, with an emphasis on the moral and ethical problems that markets solve, and also those that markets fail to solve. Consequently it carries an Ethical Inquiry (EI) course credit. • It is a bridge to more advanced courses in philosophy, politics, and economics for the student who wants to sample these disciplines without committing to several semesters of coursework. Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites except for high school mathematics. On the other hand, the reading and studying commitments involved in this course are extensive. -
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES RMBI OR RMBR: IS the RENMINBI DESTINED to BECOME a GLOBAL OR REGIONAL CURRENCY? Barry Eichengreen Dome
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES RMBI OR RMBR: IS THE RENMINBI DESTINED TO BECOME A GLOBAL OR REGIONAL CURRENCY? Barry Eichengreen Domenico Lombardi Working Paper 21716 http://www.nber.org/papers/w21716 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 November 2015 The authors acknowledge CIGI for supporting this project and Coby Hu for excellent research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2015 by Barry Eichengreen and Domenico Lombardi. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. RMBI or RMBR: Is the Renminbi Destined to Become a Global or Regional Currency? Barry Eichengreen and Domenico Lombardi NBER Working Paper No. 21716 November 2015 JEL No. F0,F02 ABSTRACT Previous studies have focused on when the renminbi will play a significant role as an international currency, but less attention has been paid to where. We fill this gap by contrasting two answers to the question. One is that the renminbi will assume the role of a global currency similar to the U.S. dollar. Supporters point to China’s widely diversified trade and financial flows and to its institutional initiatives, not just in Asia but around the world. -
Advance Praise for Lost Decades Barry Eichengreen: "Here a Leading
Advance praise for Lost Decades Barry Eichengreen: "Here a leading economist and leading political scientist team up to explain in simple, straightforward terms the political economy of the financial crisis. It is essential to understand both the politics and economics of how we got here to understand where we go next – and how we might avoid a lost decade. For its encompassing approach and global sweep, Chinn and Frieden’s book stands out from the growing mountain of publications on 2007-9. If you have time to read only one book on the crisis, read this." •Barry Eichengreen, University of California Berkeley, author of Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System Simon Johnson “An integrated and compelling account of where our debts came from – and why they won’t go away any time soon. Chinn and Frieden combine the smartest kind of economics with the toughest kind of political science. Read this book for a somewhat disheartening but completely enlightening education – and then send 10 copies to the White House and Capitol Hill.” •Simon Johnson, MIT, former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown Raghuram G. Rajan “This wonderful book by two leading political economists identifies the roots of the recent financial crisis and the deep recession that followed, but more importantly, tells us what awaits us if we do not fix the underlying problems. It is political economy as it was meant to be - accessible and concise, even while deeply troubling.” •Raghuram G.