by David R. Henderson via EconLog
August 15, 2019 is the 48th anniversary of President Nixon’s announcement of a 90-day freeze on all wages and prices. What followed after 90 days were various phases that caused the controls to last into 1974. The worst effects of the price controls were in the oil and gasoline markets, where OPEC’s price increase in the fall of 1973, combined with binding price controls, led to shortages, lineups, rationing, occasional violence in lines, and, arguably, President Carter’s Rapid Deployment Force, which was later changed into U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM.) So August 15, 1971 is a day that should live in infamy.
the_dollar_may_be_knocked_off_its_pedestal_-_wsj.pdf |
forget_the_gold_standard_and_make_the_dollar_stable_again_-_wsj.pdf |
by John H. Cochrane via Grumpy Economist
I wrote a Wall Street Journal Oped on the gold standard, partly in response to last week's Oped by James Grant (whose "PhD standard" is a great quip) and Greg Yp's excellent column on Judy Shelton and gold.
by John H. Cochrane via Grumpy Economist
Every era’s monetary and financial institutions are unimaginable until they’re real, writes Tyler Cowen in an excellent Bloomberg.com essay on the anniversary of Bretton Woods.