Monetary Theory

Brazilian journalist André de Godoy interviews economist and Mises Institute scholar Antony Mueller on the nature of money, banking, and prices.

Much has been written about the quantity of money and its effects on money’s purchasing power, but the quality of money has been neglected.

Why do we have money in the first place? Where does it come from, and what determines its form? What qualities make for a good money? What role do banks play—is it something other than what money itself does for us?

Contrary to the popular way of thinking, setting in motion a consumption unbacked by production through monetary pumping will only stifle economic growth.

Can policy-induced deviations from the natural rate of interest increase roundaboutness in production? Mark Gertsen studies 28 developed economies using an ARDL model, and finds Austrian boom-bust dynamics.

Tomáš Frömmel contends that a negative inflation target combined with the Taylor Rule can be a non-distortionary monetary policy consistent with Austrian business cycle theory.

The Understanding Money Mechanics series by Robert P. Murphy, is a comprehensive overview of the theory, history, and practice of money and banking, with a focus on the United States.

With this analysis of gift giving, we're reminded that mainstream economists seem hell-bent on reforming anything they haven't already screwed up.

Presented at the Mises Institute's "First Annual Advanced Instructional Conference in Austrian Economics" at Stanford University.

"I am not saying that fiat money, once established on the ruins of gold, cannot then continue indefinitely on its own. Unfortunately … if fiat money could not continue indefinitely, I would not have to come here to plead for its abolition."