Author: Mark Biernat

Multiple Natural Rates of Interest – Pierro Straffa

The natural rate of interest is a rate of interest is a rate of interest that exists in natura, that is, if there were no use of money. The Wicksellian marginal productivity on capital in a barter economy. This posts looks at the significance of multiple natural rates and offers one avenue to pursue for…
Free Banking as an Alternative to the Federal Reserve

Free banking compared to Central Banking Free banking is money that is issued by free-market private banks with minimal regulation and clear market rules in a competitive environment. Free banking has worked throughout history, yet for ideologically derived and fiscal expansion reasons it is jettisoned for government-controlled money. The idea is a few intellectuals know…
How to Build a Cheap Home – An Economist’s Recommendation

I am a real estate agent and an Economist. I also am a do it yourself/quasi homesteader. That being said since I have been a real estate agent for years and a cheapskate all my life, I have observed how others construct a home cost efficiently. I have lived in different parts of the world…
David Ricardo On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation in PDF

On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation by David Ricardo was written in 1817. The Economic themes in this book were value and free trade. The book also addresses many subsidiary issues. You can download it here: On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation by David Ricardo in PDF I recommend you download…
If You Want to Make Money in a Capitalist Economy be a Capitalist

‘If you want to make money be a capitalist’. It is that simple. My father told me that and he will be 92 this year and remembers The Great Depression and his parents fled communist and feudalism. He has some wisdom. I am getting a PhD in economics. I will give you specific examples of…
Michael Woodford – Financial Intermediation and Macroeconomic Analysis – Review

Michael Woodford’s 2010 paper “Financial Intermediation and Macroeconomic Analysis”, improves his theory that was articulated in this book, Interest and Prices (2003). He based this on the data and experiences from the 2008 financial crisis and changing ideas in monetary economics since his 2003 work. I have academic respect for Michael Woodford, this review is…
Natural Rate of Interest- Wicksell – Price Stability

Price Stability equated with neutral money Wicksell’s third definition of the natural rate of interest focused on the price level. That is there is a rate of interest that tends neither to increase or decrease prices. That is, when the observable market rate of interest is at a certain level, the price level will be…
Natural Rate of Interest – Wicksell – Loan Capital Equal

Demand and Supply of Loan Capital Equal Wicksell’s second definition of the natural rate of interest is the rate at which the demand for loan capital and the supply of loan capital is equal. Wicksell writes “The rate of interest at which the demand for loan capital and the supply of savings exactly agree, and…
Natural Rate of Interest – Wicksell’s Moneyless Rate

The natural rate of interest is an unobservable hypothetical rate of interest that was conceptualized by the Swedish Economist Knut Wicksell. There were precursors to this theory, such as Henry Thorton An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain in 1802, however, it was Wicksell’s theory that can trace…
The Real Meaning of Laissez-Faire

Laissez-faire is an economic philosophy that literally translates to ‘let do’ or ‘let go.’ It generally means ‘leave it alone’ in reference to economic policy. Laissez-faire is an import word from the French because the genesis of modern economic thought connected to these ideas was physiocrats in the 18th-century. However, these ideas go back to…