Contrary to popular belief, Herbert Hoover pursued a heavily interventionist economic agenda. Hoover’s accession to the Presidency in the late 1920s marked a sharp turn from the Republican Party’s laissez-faire economic policies that dominated the 1920s and produced unbridled prosperity. Former President Coolidge presided over balanced budgets, limited government and economic stability. By comparison, Hoover’sContinue reading “Hoover’s Harmful Policies”
Tag Archives: recession
Failure of QE in 2008?
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 birthed a wave of unorthodox expansionary monetary policy measures. Quantitative easing sought to lower bond yields, pushing financial institutions into riskier assets and thereby increasing aggregate demand; similarly incentivising banks to resume lending, shoring up their balance sheets as bond prices soared. The reality was more complex. Highly leveredContinue reading “Failure of QE in 2008?”
Great Recession: Monetary failure
A calamity that shaped the past decade, the Great Recession marked an end to the Great Moderation, three decades of prosperity. The root causes behind the Financial Crisis and the subsequent Great Recession are complex. A speculative shadow banking sector was supported by reckless Central Banks, bailing out financial institutions and promoting the culture ofContinue reading “Great Recession: Monetary failure”
Merkel’s economic chancellorship
Angela Merkel become the German chancellor in 2005. Merkel ran as the CDU/CSU candidate, the centre-right Conservative alliance in Germany. The CSU contests elections in only Bavaria, whereas the CDU operates in the other states of Germany. In the election campaign, the CDU/CSU pursued a fiscally conservative agenda, promising more deregulation, tax reductions and publicContinue reading “Merkel’s economic chancellorship”
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