“Like many others, I am concerned about the sovereign debt market in the wake of Covid-19. But providing more funds to governments committed to maintaining an unsustainable course is not a solution. These countries need serious institutional reforms.” ~ Nicolás 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…
“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…
“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 […]
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.