Category Archives: Money

The order to reopen–who gives it?

Posted on April 17, 2020 by

Like all of us, President Trump is eager to reopen the economy. Does he have the authority to do so or do state governors? Fortunately, neither can force us to start eating out again, or return to our offices. We … Continue reading →

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Econ 201: CARES Act–Who pays for it?

Posted on April 11, 2020 by

April 11, 2010 Congress has authorized over 2 trillion dollars (so far) to help those harmed by the partial shutdown of the economy undertaken to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and to facilitate its rapid recovery when it … Continue reading →

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Covid-19: What should Uncle Sam do?

Posted on March 23, 2020 by

On February 29 the first person in the United States died from Covid-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the so-called novel coronavirus first observed in Wuhan, China.  On March 12, three more people succumbed from this disease bringing the total … Continue reading →

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Paul Volcker, RIP

Posted on December 12, 2019 by

Paul Volcker was a man of strong convictions, including a commitment to sound money https://wcoats.blog/2017/10/14/sound-money/.  It surprises me that in 1971 he urged President Nixon to end the United States’ commitment to maintaining the price of gold to which most … Continue reading →

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Whither Libra?

Posted on July 24, 2019 by

Every other day, it seems, we witness the launch of a new crypto (digital) currency.  Each combines a medium of exchange (a currency) and a means of payment (a technical process of delivering the currency—of making a payment with it). … Continue reading →

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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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