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November 20, 2019|Inflation, Modern Monetary Theory, National Debt, Sovereign debt

The Future of Debt: A Law & Liberty Symposium

by Law & Liberty Editors|

The National Debt Clock in New York, New York on February 13, 2019 ( rblfmr / Shutterstock.com).
What makes sovereign debt sustainable, and for how long can this situation continue?

March 20, 2019|deflation, Federal Reserve, Gold Standard, Inflation, Milton Friedman, monetary stability

Seeking Monetary Stability: The Elusive Gold Standard

by James R. Rogers|

United States Federal Reserve Bank building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. (Rob Crandall / Shutterstock.com).
What’s important about the gold standard is the discipline it provides to support price stability.

November 14, 2018|Brendan Brown, Bretton Woods, Central Banking, deflation, Inflation, Janet Yellen, Paul Volcker, Stanley Fischer, U.S. Federal Reserve

Perpetual Inflation vs. Sound Money

by Alex J. Pollock|

United States Federal Reserve Bank building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. (Rob Crandall / Shutterstock.com).
Modern central banks keep attempting to manipulate prices to a different and “better” outcome than the market would provide, but what does this achieve?

October 26, 2018|bimetallism, Gold, Inflation, L. Frank Baum, silver, William Jennings Bryan, Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz as an Allegory for the 1896 Presidential Election

by James R. Rogers|

Image: Francey/Shutterstock.com
The end of the 19th century brought a curious political obsession to the forefront of U.S. politics, and The Wizard of Oz was one result.

October 3, 2018|Central Banking, European Union, Federal Reserve, Finance and Philosophy, Frank Knight, Friedrich Hayek, Inflation, Quantitative Easing

Knowledge, Risk, and the Surprised Banker: A Conversation with Alex Pollock

by Alex J. Pollock|

Alex Pollock discusses the philosophy of finance and why the quant guys keep getting it wrong.

January 10, 2018|Adair Turner, Central Banking, Charles Kindleberger, credit, debt, Dodd-Frank, Federal Reserve, Financial Services Authority, Inflation, The Forgotten Man

Who Is This “We” that Should Manage the Economy?

by Alex J. Pollock|

Adair Turner's account of financial markets is insightful but misunderstands the role of the state in creating financial crises.

June 26, 2017|Federal Reserve, Inflation, John Maynard Keynes, monetary policy

Ending the Fed’s Permanent Inflation Policy

by James R. Rogers|

dollar

The Federal Reserve Board seeks to maintain an inflation rate around two percent per year. While this rate might sound low for older types who remember double-digit inflation rates in the late 70s and early 80s, and a rate of 5.4 percent as recently as 1990, why tolerate, let alone seek to sustain, any inflation at all? Why not seek to establish zero inflation and stable prices? After all, even an inflation rate of only two percent a year means nominal prices still double every 36 years. And while people can and do broadly adjust their behavior in the face of anticipated inflation, it’s not a seamless process. Inflation distorts people’s economic decisions, whether as producers or consumers, labor or capital, and so imposes costs on us all.

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September 19, 2016|Federal Reserve Act, Inflation, Janet Yellen, monetary policy, Paul Volcker

Jackson Hole and Democracy

by Peter Conti-Brown|

Janet Yellen, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, center, walks past a protester as she arrives for the Jackson Hole economic symposium, sponsored by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank: Bradly Boner/Bloomberg via Getty Images

There’s some historical elegance to the fact that the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is roughly as old as the modern Fed itself. The symposium, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, started in 1978.

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May 20, 2014|Austrian Economics, Crony Capitalism, Education, Inflation, monetary policy, Peron

Easy Money and Vanishing Trust

by Alejandro A. Chafuen|

The key message of Stephen King’s book is that “we” have been living beyond our means. In his words: “We became delusional. We convinced ourselves that capital markets could deliver ever rising prosperity. We thought we could borrow without limit, always confident that the future would be better than the past.” And not for one moment, he adds, “did we think we would ever succumb to Japanese-style economic stagnation or Argentine-style broken promises.” King emphasizes that we are all in the same boat, and that we were all wrong. It is fair to say, however, that some raised a voice of…

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May 2, 2014|

The Great Society, a Half-Century On

by William Voegeli|

President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” speech is about to turn 50 years old. The speech, which the President gave as the commencement address at the University of Michigan on May 22, 1964, is a milestone in American history and instantly lodged that phrase in our political vocabulary. The most grandiose political slogan in a roster that includes the New Deal and the New Frontier, the Great Society was more than a set of policy objectives. Rather, Johnson described it as the commitment to undertake an eternal quest, one that would elevate American civilization by expanding the federal government’s responsibilities and capabilities.…

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Responses

The Politics of Dependency

by Tom Palmer

William Voegeli’s Liberty Forum essay reminds us of the absurdity of so much American political discourse of the past 60 years. The call for greater state-mandated redistribution and entitlements in order to “oppose the drift into the homogenized society” and “fight spiritual unemployment,” to combat “loneliness and boredom” and “build a richer life of mind…

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Wind in the Willows

by Wilfred M. McClay

With the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s “Great Society” speech fast approaching, we are seeing a flood of historical remembrance and analysis, and there will be more in the weeks and months ahead. The television historians and talking heads will be swooning over how much was accomplished by an 89th Congress that was, in the…

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The Great Exception

by Yuval Levin

The 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” speech offers us an opportunity to reflect not just on the speech itself but also on the half century of consequences that have followed in the wake of the grand project it announced. As William Voegeli notes in his Liberty Forum essay, he commencement address Johnson delivered to the…

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Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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