This paper discusses the development of Keynes's ideas about monetary theory in the context of the consequences of Britain's return to the gold standard (opposed by Keynes) in 1925 and his initial unsuccessful attempt to develop a comprehensive theory of macroeconomic fluctuations in his...

This paper provides an account of the reasons for the differences between the theories of David Ricardo and Henry Thornton for the depreciation of sterling during the Napoleonic Wars. Ricardo held that only overissue by the Bank of England could cause depreciatiaon of sterling during the...

This paper reviews a collection of essays relating to various aspects of the financial revolution in Britain starting with the creation of the Bank of England in the late seventeenth century and ending with the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, a period in which Britain unexpectedly became the...

This paper reviews a collection of essays by Charles Kindleberger. After a quick overview of the contents of the volume, the paper criticizes the position advanced by Kindleberger that monetary policy should seek to counteract asset price inflation. The review also discusses critically...

A strictly monetary theory of the Great Depression is generally thought to have originated with Milton Friedman. Designed to counter the Keynesian notion that the Depression resulted from instabilities inherent in modern capitalist economies, Friedman's explanation identified the culprit as an...

Ralph Hawtrey, one of the leading economists of the interwar period, published his first work in economics, Good and Bad Trade, in 1913. The book contains the key elements of the theoretical model developed and refined by Hawtrey over the next quarter century. Notwithstanding Pigou's judgment...

Abstract: In Hayek's early writings on business cycle theory and the Great Depression he argued that business cycle downturns including the steep downturn of 1929-31 were caused by unsustainable elongations of capital structure of the economy resulting from bank-financed investment in excess of...

This paper uses the Fisher equation relating the nominal interest rate to the real interest rate and expected inflation to provide a deeper explanation of the financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent recovery than attributing it to the bursting of the housing-price bubble. The paper...

Despite all the commentary that the topic has attracted in recent years, confusion still surrounds the proper definition of relevant markets in antitrust. This paper addresses that confusion and attempts to explain the underlying logic of market definition. It does so largely by way of...

Abstract: Drawing on McCraw's (2007) biography, this paper assesses the character of Joseph Schumpeter. After a biographical summary of Schumpeter's life and career as an economist, the paper considers a thread of deliberate posturing and pretense in Schumpeter's grandiose ambitions and claims...