Here’s the latest installment of George Selgin’s invaluable Primer on Monetary Policy. A slice:
To get a handle on the Fed’s contribution to the [2008 financial] crisis, one must be willing to do what all too many commentators on monetary policy seem incapable of doing, to wit: set aside the temptation to treat central banks as being congenitally prone to create too much money, or predisposed to create too little. The sad truth is that central banks are perfectly capable of creating too much money on some occasions, and too little on others, and that it isn’t at all unusual for them to sway intemperately from one off-kilter stance to the other, with scarcely a pause in between.
Bob Higgs reflects on the bitter fruits of identity politics.
Jason Riley applauds Thomas Sowell, who is retiring his regular syndicated column. A slice:
Not everyone will miss Mr. Sowell’s essays, of course. He regularly took on establishment civil-rights leaders who claim to be acting in the interests of blacks but are really advancing their own agendas—which usually involve hanging on to power, money and relevance. But anyone interested in differentiating between the needs of the black underclass and the needs of the NAACP will sorely miss Mr. Sowell’s contrarian contributions to ongoing debates.
Steve Horwitz speaks truth to Trumpians. A slice:
If Trump is serious about regulatory relief, and really wants to improve the well-being of all Americans and not just his politically-connected buddies, the first thing he should do is abandon his economic nationalism and support the free trade and liberal immigration policies that really have made America great.
Here’s the New York Times‘s obituary of the historian Joyce Appleby. A slice:
She argued that the [American] revolutionaries were more individualistic and optimistic than they had been given credit for. John Locke and Adam Smith had as much influence — or even more — than the radical Whigs on founders like Thomas Jefferson. In her view, the revolutionaries believed that the public good would arise out of the harmonious pursuit of private interests in a market economy.
Pete Boettke looks back on 2016.
Back to the Pres.-elect: Sheldon Richman exposes yet more of Trump’s blazing economic ignorance. A slice:
President-elect Trump complains that trade with China is “one-sided.” Does he speak English or what? One-sided trade is like one-sided triangle: you can say it, but you can’t mean (think) it.
