The French economist Frederic Bastiat is chiefly remembered for having developed the concept of “opportunity cost” or, more colourfully, “that which is seen, and that which is not seen”. We could put it more simply: there is no such thing as something for nothing. There is a persistent tendency to see only one side of […]

Economic Perspectives 48 GOING POSTAL – 28 JANUARY 2019 How to unravel economic complexity – the simple citizen’s guide Here’s a clue: if there are things that you, as a rational citizen, would never choose to do, it’s almost certain that government should stay clear of them too. But governments rarely act rationally, and the […]

  HUMAN RIGHTS & GOVERNMENT ACTION In many of these essays on economics I have been at pains to point out that the prosperity of any community, anywhere, anytime, if it is to last, must be based on observance of the guiding principles of free people; free trade; sound money; and small government. Colleagues sometimes […]

EMILE WOOLF – GOING POSTAL [19-11-2018 – EP43] “DEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 6” “WHAT GOVERNMENT CAN – AND CANNOT – DO” Whenever confronting a puzzling situation, it’s worth asking how it came about. When doing this I usually find it helpful to write about it and, given my personal orientation, my way through the […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 39 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND My wife and I have just returned from a couple of weeks in the USA. Among many sources of stimulation, debate between friends and family threw up a number of key issues of economic interest – two in particular stand out, and they are closely related: (i) Whether […]

GOING POSTAL 20/8/18 [Part 1 of “This time it will be different” appeared as Going Postal last week.] PART 2 THE SCOURGE OF CREDIT EXPANSION – THE SYSTEM’S DEMISE COULD BE SOONER THAN YOU THINK The monetary conjuring trick employed after the last crisis, described in Part 1, required central banks to purchase government bonds […]

1 – THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT – Yes, far worse! [ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 35] The last crash 2007/2008 Before the last financial crisis in 2007/2008 sub-prime mortgages were all the rage. The idea was that if mortgage lenders put a pot-pourri of mortgages in a parcel, the risks attaching to mortgages at the […]

Dear Ronald Many thanks for spending the time it must have taken you to formulate and write all that! (My own priority when writing at such length is to focus on the subject matter of my Economics essays or Accountancy articles, which I am still contractually obliged to submit bi-monthly.) Indeed, pace i tuoi amici […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 26:   “CREATING JOBS’ – WHAT A FALLACY! My colleague Steven Spencer has reminded me of an anecdote relayed by the owner of a brand new Corvette sports car. A bystander speculated, “I wonder how many people could have been fed with the money that sports car cost?” The owner replied: “ I […]

Economic Perspectives – 25 REFLECTIONS ON RECENT TAX HYSTERIA [Early December 2017] Where we are now on the subject of taxation – clueless and lost! Widespread “tax-dodging” is the surest sign that our “tax-raising” process is seriously defective! Why doesn’t our existing tax system raise enough money to meet all government commitments? The reason is […]