The case for central bank independence is built on an intellectual two-step. Step one argues there is a problem of inflation prone government. Step two argues independence is the solution to that problem. This paper challenges that case and shows it is based on false politics and economics. The...

The engineer economist -- The failure of postwar reconstruction -- Rueff and French economic strategy during the Depression -- The crisis of liberalism and the future of liberal capitalism in the 1930s -- L'ordre social and the war -- Reconstruction and inflation -- Keynes, the postwar "age of...