In this episode of our video blog, we discuss what drives an economy to a crisis.
Governments always see the problem of the economy as a demand issue, and tend to create larger imbalances by pushing demand-side policies.
All posts by Daniel Lacalle
High Government Spending Leads To Stagnation
The idea that governments can’t lower taxes because there is a deficit, but are free to raise all expenses even if there is a deficit can be found in many political manifestos these days. Central planners always see the economic challenges as a problem of demand, and as such cringe at the idea of prudent investment and saving. When GDP growth, gross capital formation, and consumption are lower than what Keynesians would want, they always blame the alleged problem on “too much saving”, a ridiculous premise based on the perception that economic cycles and excess capacity do not matter and if companies and citizens don’t spend as much as the government wants, then the public sector should spend a lot more. Continue reading High Government Spending Leads To Stagnation
The Insanity Of Negative Rates. World Economics Episode 7
In this seventh episode of my video-blog, we discuss negative rates. Why do central banks implement them? What are the alleged benefits and risks? Is it true that economic agents spend more and take more credit when nominal rates are negative?.
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Quantitative Easing Is Back
The Federal Reserve, through its president Jerome Powell, has indicated that it is preparing to increase its balance “organically”. The effort to separate this latest monetary policy change of course from a full-blown new QE (quantitative easing) is, at the very least, amusing. If we look at what is being discussed, it has nothing to do with organic expansion and looks a lot like a new repurchase program. Continue reading Quantitative Easing Is Back
