Gold News
Is reserve currency status an economic blessing or a curse? The answer might seem obvious, as reserve currencies have been shown to confer lower borrowing costs on their issuers. But what of the borrower who, enticed by low interest rates, borrows more than they can pay back? Naturally the result will be a default. However, [...]
Since early 2010 I have been arguing in these pages against the core neo-Keynesian precepts of the economic and monetary policy mainstream. In general I have not been optimistic that, notwithstanding their abject failure to foresee the global financial crisis, and their ongoing, failed responses thereto, the mainstream would reconsider its views. But some interesting [...]
Economic data the world over indicate that a global economic slowdown is well underway. Central banks have already responded with fresh stimulus, as anticipated by financial markets. But just as the economic recovery of 2009-2011 was largely artificial and, thus, disappointing in key respects, so the unfolding slowdown is going to result in a few [...]
Economic policymakers are like children in that they are held only partially accountable for their mistakes and misdeeds. And just as children learn to selectively deny responsibility to get away with naughty behaviour, so policymakers learn that they, too, can conveniently disown the ‘unintended consequences’ of their actions. It is thus refreshing to see that [...]
