Triffin gained enormous influence by reviving the interwar story that gold scarcity threatened deflation. In particular, he held that central banks needed to accumulate claims on the United States to back money growth. But the claims would eventually surpass the US gold stock and then central...

The positions of British and German economists on public debt in the long 19th century differed substantially from each other. While British classical economists regarded any public debt as ruinous for the country, German economists promoted debt accumulation for productivity-enhancing public...

One of the most debated issues in international finance is the meaning of the pari passu clause in sovereign bonds. The clause is ubiquitous; it is in almost every single foreign-law sovereign bond out there. Yet, almost no one seems to agree on its meaning. One way to cut the Gordian knot is to...

This paper provides textual evidence of Keynes's position on monetary policy and shaping international monetary relations. One result of my contribution is that the famous dichotomy "rules versus discretion" is of no relevance to his economic theory, because he used the term "rules" not in the...

The successor to Keynesian economics was supply-side economics, which remains the core economic philosophy of the Republican Party. Its success wasn't only due to the attractiveness of tax cuts by politicians; a great deal of serious economic research underpinned the supply-side program, a point...

This essay explains Keynesian economics as essentially an ex post rationale for policies Keynes thought were necessary to deal with deflation. In essence, he wanted inflation to compensate for deflation, but contrary to conservative dogma, Keynes was not a crude inflationist -- he wanted stable...

A series of recent reviews of the depression of 1920-21 by Austrian School and libertarian economists have argued that the downturn demonstrates the poverty of Keynesian policy recommendations. However, these writers misrepresent important characteristics of the 1920-21 downturn, understating...

Montchrétien was definitely mercantilist. He praises the ancients, their honors and their self-discipline, but notes, like Serra, that there was no concept of Political Economy in Antiquity. The words, however, appear for the first time in the pseudoaristotelian Oeconomica II, where the...

The statement by the central bank of Nigeria that N5000 will be introduced and N5, N10, and N20 notes will be coined in 2013 has generated a lot of debate. Many of the contributions have however strayed off the key point. Namely, the reason currency notes and coins are necessary. Notes and coins...

With central banks becoming monetary authorities, research departments have become a core element of a modern central bank. Crucial elements of a central bank research department are contributing to monetary policymaking and sustaining a dialogue with the academic community. The importance of...