The Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics Blog recently reported that, according to new CBO projections, the Federal Reserve will cease its annual “payments” to the US government by 2018. You’re probably wondering two things: 1. Why the heck would the Fed be funding the government—shouldn’t...

by Adrian Ash AMID the brouhaha over Germany’s gold reserves at the Bundesbank, there’s another central bank using gold actively to bolster its currency and financial stability. The strategy looks the same – sitting on big stockpiles of the stuff. But the aim differs, because gold is much...

by Devin Roundtree Now that 2012 has come and gone, here are the 15 most traded currencies ranked by their performance against the yellow metal. Among the top performers, the New Zealand dollar and Swedish Krona should not come as a big surprise; the central banks of both countries have gained a reputation...

   by Lawrence H. White My frequent co-author George Selgin (2012) finds it “more doubtful [today] than ever before that any government-sponsored and administered gold standard will be sufficiently credible to either be spared from or to withstand redemption runs.” He quotes...

By MATTHEW KAMINSKI As an economic crisis manager, Leszek Balcerowicz has few peers. When communism fell in Europe, he pioneered “shock therapy” to slay hyperinflation and build a free market. In the late 1990s, he jammed a debt ceiling into his country’s constitution, handcuffing...