Tom Duncan

“The Great Chinese Inflation”

“Inflations have undermined the cultural and economic fabric of society, bringing social chaos and revolution. One example is the Great Chinese Inflation of the 1930s and 1940s. Indeed, the destruction […]

“Greece and GM: Too weak to fail”

“In the commercial, Whitacre says GM has ‘repaid our government loan in full.’ Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) noted that GM used government funds to pay back the government: It ‘simply […]

Inflation Destroys Savings

“Everything that is done by a government against the purchasing power of the monetary unit is, under present conditions, done against the middle classes and the working classes of the […]

“Roberts on the Crises”

“Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk, discusses his paper, “Gambling with Other People’s Money: How Perverted Incentives Created the Financial Crisis.” Roberts reflects on the past eighteen months of podcasts on […]

“The Great 18-Year Real Estate Cycle”

“On January 3rd, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke delivered a major speech at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association. In his formal paper, “Monetary Policy and […]

“Venezuela’s Monetary Mayhem”

“Anchoring the currency to the dollar and thus outsourcing monetary policy to the U.S. Federal Reserve had been a success, but special interests and politicians could not bear that it […]

Shining a Light on the Fed

Much has been made recently of the plan to audit the Fed (here, here and here). It is a very interesting idea. Given the amount of money ($2 trillion) the […]

Will Congress ever reform the Fed?

“This week’s Senate floor votes on the powers of the Federal Reserve caught my attention. Despite Congress’s bipartisan lashing of the Fed for its performance before and after the financial […]