Category Archives: Money

Returning to Currencies with Hard Anchors

Posted on April 16, 2019 by

Why did the gold standard ultimately fail? What system would overcome those weaknesses? See my: Adam Smith Institute Blog 

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Modern Monetary Theory—A Critique

Posted on April 14, 2019 by

So called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has become popular with Green New Dealers because it claims to remove or at least loosen traditional constraints on government spending.  MMT offers unconventional ideas about the origins of money, how money is created … Continue reading →

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Central Banking Award

Posted on January 25, 2019 by

As a monetary policy expert working at the IMF when the Soviet Union dissolved I had the exciting and fulfilling opportunity of leading technical assistance missions to the central banks of Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Slovakia and building on … Continue reading →

Posted in Money | 3 Comments

Their Turkey and Ours

Posted on August 22, 2018 by

“Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes high interest rates are the cause of inflation, not the remedy for it”  The Economist May 19, 2018 “How-turkey-fell-from-investment-darling-to-junk-rated-emerging-market” During the 1990s the inflation rate in Turkey averaged around 80% per annum varying between 60% and 105%.  … Continue reading →

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Trump and interest rates

Posted on July 19, 2018 by

There seems to be no norm or conventional wisdom that President Trump is not willing to overturn. Following Fed Chairman Powell’s congressional testimony Tuesday in which he confirmed the Fed’s intention to continue its gradual increase in its policy interest rate, … Continue reading →

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A proposal for the Fed’s balance sheet

Posted on July 14, 2018 by

By Warren Coats[1] To save financial institutions from the collapse that threatened them after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the Federal Reserve purchased government securities and Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) sufficient to increase the size of its … Continue reading →

Posted in Banks, Money | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Free Banking in the Digital Age?

Posted on May 1, 2018 by

By Warren Coats[1] Introduction A number of central banks are considering issuing digital currency either in place of the paper currency they now issue or in parallel with it.  The advantages of central bank digital currency (CBDC) over paper currency … Continue reading →

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