“An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense – perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire – that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard...

“Trust is similar in its fragility.  At the individual level, of course, these two concepts (reputation and trust) are inter-related.  We trust those who have a trustworthy reputation, and we don’t trust those who are known to be untrustworthy.  Once bitten, twice shy, or fool me one time...

“Last year, Chinese authorities impressed Western leaders by turning China’s falling growth rate around through stimulus programs designed to boost domestic investment. However, as China’s massive monetary stimulus has led to a surge in bank lending and rapidly growing asset prices, officials...

“Let me say first that I believe in the benefits conferred by the free market as strongly as anybody in this country: nobody, anywhere, has yet devised a way of organising economic activity which comes close to the free market as a way of efficiently producing the goods and services which people...

“Economists do not agree about how monetary policy affects the economy. Different observers weigh in different ways the various specific channels through which monetary policy works. Views diverge even about the monetary transmission process in individual industrialised nations, the subject of...