The three lives of Japanese military pesos

The three lives of Japanese military pesos

| backing theory of money, cash, Gresham's Law, inflation, Japan, quantity theory of money, unit of account

1942 Japanese Invasion Philippines Peso with a JAPWANCAP Stamp In his reply to Mike Sproul, Kurt Schuler brings up the question of the dete...

Friends, not enemies: How the backing and quantity theories co-determine the price level

Friends, not enemies: How the backing and quantity theories co-determine the price level

| backing theory of money, liquidity premium, Mike Sproul, moneyness, quantity theory of money

Kurt Schuler was kind enough to host a Mike Sproul blog post, which I suggest everyone read. I think Mike's backing theory makes a lo...

BlackBerry needs a Draghi moment

BlackBerry needs a Draghi moment

| ECB, Gavyn Davies, stock market and equities, Target2

The Blackberry debacle reminds me of another crisis that has passed by the wayside—remember the eurozone's Target2 crisis? The same sort...

1,682 days and all's well

1,682 days and all's well

| business cycle, charts, Federal Reserve, gold, Great Depression, Milton Friedman, quantitative easing, sterilization, stock market and equities, zero lower bound

1,682 is the number of days that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has spent rising since hitting rock bottom back in March 6, 2009. It also ...

Rates or quantitites or both

Rates or quantitites or both

| Bank of Canada, convenience yield, Federal Reserve, hot potato effect, Nick Rowe, open market operations, Steve Waldman

Roaming around the econ blogosphere, I often come across what seems to be a sharp divide between those who think monetary policy is all abou...

An ode to illiquid stocks for the retail investor

An ode to illiquid stocks for the retail investor

| liquidity options, liquidity premium, moneyness, stock market and equities

Today's go-to advice for the small retail investor is to invest in passive ETFs and index funds. These low cost alternatives are better ...

The zero-lower bound as a modern version of Gresham's law

The zero-lower bound as a modern version of Gresham's law

| bimetallism, cash, coins, George Selgin, Gresham's Law, history of thought, John Locke, Miles Kimball, unit of account, zero lower bound

Sir Thomas Gresham, c. 1554 by Anthonis Mor The zero-lower bound may seem like a new problem, but I'm going to argue that it's only ...

Was coin debasement always bad?

Was coin debasement always bad?

| coins, Gresham's Law, inflation, seigniorage, sticky prices, unit of account

Dante's 8th level of hell, which housed counterfeiters, among others. Illustration by Doré In this post I'll argue that debasement w...

Fama vs Shiller on the 1987 stock market crash

Fama vs Shiller on the 1987 stock market crash

| efficient markets hypothesis, Eugene Fama, fundamental value, Robert Shiller, stock market and equities, technical and fundamental analysis

Tomorrow marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash. On October 19, 1987 the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%,...

Medieval QE

Medieval QE

| agio, coins, convenience yield, liquidity premium, moneyness, quantitative easing, seigniorage

Hand operated rolling mill, for putting the edge impression on to coins I've been reading about the medieval monetary system lately. Wha...