Introduction I hear a lot of talk about the impending "debt crisis." Commentators seem to have a fixation on the Federal Debt-to-GDP ratio, yet I have never heard why they place such significance on it. The Federal Debt to GDP ratio actually compares a stock—the accumulation of flows over a long period—with a flow—the measure … Continue reading Federal Deficit and Monetary Expansion

Summary::Money does not measure value; people do. A bad cold has made editing my next article ("Federal Deficit and Monetary Expansion") a little difficult. I have decided to republish an article that I published several months ago. Some people argue that money—or a monetary unit e.g. dollars, pounds, lira—acts as a measure of value. A … Continue reading Money Not a Measure of Value Revisited

This title represents a trick question. Nothing "is" money. Usage determines what we call "money." Before I continue any further, I will repeat the definition of "money" that I use: Money consists of any economic good, or any claim on such a good, that serves as a general medium of indirect exchange and that acts … Continue reading What is Money?