Essays & News

History shows that various monetary and exchange rate regimes can work well or poorly, depending on the countries’ circumstances and policies. Very similar beginnings but many different outcomes today – that is how one may sum up the history of monetary and exchange rate policy in the postcommunist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Yet […]

Papierwährungen neigen dazu, über die Zeit kräftig an Wert zu verlieren. Kryptowährungen oder Gold bieten bis jetzt nur beschränkt brauchbare Alternativen. Sie sind aber wichtig, um Notenbanken und Politik zu disziplinieren. Read the whole material:  NZZ zum Währungswettbewerb und der Haberler Tagung https://www.nzz.ch/pro-global/papiergeld-gold-und-krypto-was-wenn-das-geld-zerrinnt-ld.1738717?reduced=true

Despite the bipartisan standoff, Republicans and Democrats will likely come to a last-minute agreement to lift the public debt ceiling beyond the current $31.4 trillion. IN A NUTSHELL A compromise on revenue and spending is likely to emerge from talks Politicians have lost credibility because of repeated debt ceiling hikes An extended impasse threatens to […]

Generalizing can lead one astray in interpreting history, but the record of thousands of years of human civilization shows with reasonable clarity that powers rise, often become arrogant, overreach and decline. As decline breeds unrest, a declining power is dangerous. When that happens, other major powers also tend to act unreasonably. They do not grasp […]