This essay argues that central bank independence is more important today than at any time in history. Because fiscal incentives for inflation grow as government debt grows, and in view of the huge run-up in government debt in the 1980s, with prospects for continued growth in the 1990s, we...

According to conventional wisdom, trade balances reflect a country's competitive strength-the lower the trade deficit, the stronger the country's industries and the higher its rate of economic growth. In this article, David Gould and Roy Ruffin review the history of the conventional wisdom and...