Nicolas Cachanosky

"We don’t know whether the Fed would take steps to eliminate cash or impose negative rates on FedCoin balances. We don’t know how it would go about intermediating funds. But such speculations should make one thing clear: there are risks. At the least, we should develop strong institutional checks before permitting the Fed to plow ahead." ~ Nicolás Cachanosky

"Perhaps the Fed’s move to average inflation targeting won’t make much of a difference. But it nonetheless risks further politicizing the Fed. To the extent that it means the Fed will engage in even more credit allocation and Congress will take a more active role in guiding those credit allocation discussions, there is cause for concern." ~ Nicolás Cachanosky

"Allowing the Fed to become a catch-all institution undermines its independence and ability to conduct monetary policy. If every job is the Fed’s job, it won’t do any of them well." ~ Nicolás Cachanosky

"Following a crisis, countries with higher levels of economic freedom–that is, with institutions closer to those proposed by Hayek than Keynes–suffered smaller economic contractions and faster recoveries. Keynesian ideas have dominated the political worldview for decades. But we would be better off following Hayek." ~ Nicolás Cachanosky

“Argentina’s economic troubles are self-imposed. They are not the fault of its creditors, who just want to be repaid as promised. Any good-faith solution to Argentina’s problems must start by recognizing the real problem: large fiscal deficits.” ~ Nicholas Cachanosky

"Latin American leaders seem at least as likely to bolster their own power, while repressing basic liberties, as they are to mitigate the deleterious effects of the disease." ~ Nicolas Cachanosky

There is a risk that whatever justified measures governments are taking because of the pandemic outbreak will remain as unjustified powers once the pandemic crisis is over.

In January, Ecuador celebrated its 20th anniversary of dollarization. The Bastiat Society of Guayaquil and the Instituto  Ecuatoriano de Economia Política organized a conference to discuss the pros and cons of Ecuador’s monetary regime. International speakers participating in the discussion included Lawrence W. Reed, Manuel Hinds, and Carlos E. Gonzales. Dollarization is a sensitive subject […]

If there is a lesson to be learned from the Argentinian experience, it is that one should never underestimate people’s willingness and capacity to rationalize alternative, but clearly wrong, explanations of well-known problems like inflation.

The Federal Reserve has announced its commitment to developing its own round-the-clock real-time payments service. The FedNow Service promises to clear a transfer between U.S. banks in mere seconds — 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. At face value, this looks like a welcome development. Yet it still raises the question of whether […]