Financial Markets

  • What Do Wildcat Banks Tell Us About Stablecoins?

    “The experience in Michigan when it was a frontier state in the same year that the telegraph was invented is not particularly pertinent for discerning the likely success of private currency with the communications technology available today. ‘Wildcat’ is a phrase that has no relevance for stablecoins.” ~ Gerald P Dwyer

    What Do Wildcat Banks Tell Us About Stablecoins?
  • Not Smart Financial Regulation

    “U.S. financial regulators approved the NSFR despite the fact that their own evidence showed the costs of the rule exceed its benefits. That’s Not Smart Financial Regulation.” ~ Thomas L. Hogan

    Not Smart Financial Regulation
  • Lumber Prices Return to Earth

    “A new round of expansionary monetary policy, wildfires, or other developments could bring more upheaval to this ordinarily sedate market, but for now it appears that the lumber market delirium has been quelled.” ~ Peter C. Earle

    Lumber Prices Return to Earth
  • Higher Inflation Depresses Equity Valuation

    “The CPI will probably increase by 3-5% for all of 2021. That is not nearly as bad as the 1970s, when the rate averaged 7.4% p.a. (and peaked at 13.3% in late 1979), but it’s still bad for equity valuations.” ~ Richard M. Salsman

    Higher Inflation Depresses Equity Valuation
  • Amazon’s Reward For Lifting Its Vendors In Unimaginable Ways? Demonization

    “Once the butt of jokes of the ‘Amazon.org’ variety, the formerly fledgling business presently meets the needs of billions of customers in ways they never imagined. Put another way, we couldn’t live without Amazon today. Seemingly neither can reporters seeking – and getting – A1 newspaper real estate through reports that are long on innuendo,…

    Amazon’s Reward For Lifting Its Vendors In Unimaginable Ways? Demonization
  • A Conversation on Financial Exclusion and Inclusion

    “On this episode of the Authors Corner, Ethan Yang interviews AIER Senior Fellow Robert Wright on his book Financial Exclusion: How Competition can Fix a Broken System. During the interview, Robert discusses major themes in his book, which touch on the importance of the financial system and the damage exclusion has brought on marginalized communities.”…

    A Conversation on Financial Exclusion and Inclusion
  • Are Digital Assets Coming of Age?

    “During the intervening five years, much has happened to support the case for digital assets. More legitimacy will be needed to satisfy the institutional investment community, but it is reasonable to conclude that digital assets have finally come of age.” ~ Colin Lloyd

    Are Digital Assets Coming of Age?
  • The Death of a Visionary Retailer Reminds Us of Private Equity’s Genius

    “Instead of sitting on their hands, these investors are energetically reshaping commerce for the much better with their bold capital commitments. Rather than demonize private equity, we should cheer the progress that it personifies with an eye on reworking the tax code in order to encourage more of what’s mindlessly penalized.” ~ John Tamny

    The Death of a Visionary Retailer Reminds Us of Private Equity’s Genius
  • Morningstar Right To Fight SEC Encroachment

    “Morningstar is right to push back. If only other corporations would do likewise and not cave in to regulatory rules rooted in agency staffer self-interest rather than reason. Free markets can stand some regulation but not virtual takeover by bureaucratic fiat.” ~ Robert E. Wright

    Morningstar Right To Fight SEC Encroachment
  • The Bubble That Never Was: Finance’s Definition Problem

    “That is not to say that the Teslas and the GameStops and the Bitcoins of today aren’t bubbles; they may be, due for corrections of bubble-like implosions rivaling those of our financial past. The point is, we won’t know until after – long after.” ~ Joakim Book

    The Bubble That Never Was: Finance’s Definition Problem
  • It’s Appropriate to Demand That Intellectuals Put Their Money Where Their Mouths Are

    “Whenever I encounter intellectuals who declare that their econometric research or armchair theorizing reveals that workers are underpaid or that consumers are overcharged, I feel fully justified by responding with: ‘Prove it! Put your money where your mouth is.'” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

    It’s Appropriate to Demand That Intellectuals Put Their Money Where Their Mouths Are
  • The Decentralization Fetish

    “We must not merely assume that decentralization is always good and more-decentralized solutions are always better. Instead, we should recognize that it depends on the unique benefits of decentralization and the costs of realizing those benefits relative to more-centralized alternatives.” ~ William J. Luther

    The Decentralization Fetish