Fractional reserves is an important component of financial stability. Most of the financial regulation is aimed to control this aspect of banking practice such that banks do not become insolvent and a contagious set of bank runs gets into the financial markets. It is as if banks were unable to control...

PART III: The study of a social science like economics is different from that of a physical science like chemistry or physics.  When the chemist combines his elements incorrectly he may get a bang or a fizzle; either way, he can be definitively sure that his attempt has been a failure.  If he tries...

Article and photo originally published at The Weekly Standard William Kristol July 24, 2011 Judy Shelton makes the case in the new issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD for the “Gold Standard or Bust.” Sound finances, she points out, require sound money, and sound money, it turns out, seems to require a dollar...

Article and photo originally published at The Weekly Standard August 1, 2011 As the truth-or-dare battle over raising the debt ceiling moves toward a resolution of some sort, we are witnessing a unique political moment, with attention finally riveted on our nation’s fiscal future. We are about to learn...

Lately, a lot has been said about Greece, Spain and Italy in the financial crisis affecting Europe. The fear is that these economies can affect the performance of bigger economies, like Germany, one of the largest economies in the world and the second worldwide exporter. Germany, as well, is in a precarious...