The Ludwig von Mises Institute South Africa defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations. We believe government intervention is economically and socially destructive. This is our blog.
Quotable Mises
Help the cause of economic liberty and peace in Africa
Follow us on twitter
Like us on Facebook
-
Recent blog posts
Recent Comments
- Joe Johansen on Don’t forget SARB QE: Part 2
- MarleyMarx on Crisis On The Cape Flats Caused By Decades of Social Engineering
- Daniel on BOE: “Money creation in the modern economy”
- iakovos on New Documentary Explains Global Financial Crisis From the Perspective of the Austrian School of Economics
- Blah on Mandela: The Great Symbol of South Africa’s Unfinished Fight For Liberty
Archives
Mises SA Articles- Say’s Law, Credit Expansion & the Business Cycle March 14, 2014
- Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough December 5, 2013
- Eersteklas ekonomiese satire: Die Petisie van die Kersmakers November 25, 2013
- Circle Bastiat
Fraud. Why the Great Recession?
Watch this crowdfunded documentary produced by Austrian school economist Jesus Huerta de Soto, author of "Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles," on what caused the Great Recession. Click to watch it free online.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
The SA Reserve Bank’s record
I dusted off this piece I did a year ago on chrislbecker.com where I assessed the SARB’s performance in accordance with its own prescribed legislative mandate. The results are dismal to say the least. I conclude, Not only has the Reserve Bank failed at each … Continue reading
Posted in Russell Lamberti
Tagged central bank, gold, gold standard, inflation, monetary policy, monetary system, SARB
Leave a comment
On the ebb and flow of the capital structure
In recent posts Chris and Russell have made good points about the relevance of judging Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) by empirical standards, or better put, by the standards of econometric analysis of data.* Chris and Russell have also referred … Continue reading
RE: On The Empirical Relevance of Austrian Business Cycle Theory
My friend Grant McDermott, to whom I wrote why I think the empirical relevance of ABCT by Lester/Wolff may produce “mixed” results replied to me in this post. This is a quick one to elaborate my points. Firstly Grant says … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Becker
Tagged ABCT, business cycle, central bank, fractional reserve banking, inflation, malinvestment, monetary policy
Leave a comment
The Declining Relevance of Fractional Reserve Banks
Here is a fascinating article on Wired about the declining influence and relevance of fractional reserve commercial banks on the lives of individuals. It argues that banks will one day look more like Google, Facebook, or Apple. Interesting about this … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Becker
Tagged banking crisis, central bank, fractional reserve banking, gold, inflation
Leave a comment
The Subsistence Fund and ABCT
I alluded in an earlier post to Eduard Braun’s explanation of Mises’ use of the concept of the “subsistence fund”, in Mises’ 1912 work The Theory of Money and Credit, to explain the workings of the business cycle and why some investment cycles are … Continue reading
Posted in Russell Lamberti
Tagged ABCT, business cycle, malinvestment, mises, subsistence fund
Leave a comment
The Austrian Economist’s Skepticism on Empirics That Validate ABCT
I agree completely with this comment of Russell’s about the empirical tests that have been done in the past to ‘test’ Austrian business cycle theory: It is interesting that despite all the data shortcomings, the authors found some empirical validity to ABCT in the industrial production … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Becker
Leave a comment
Impact of Real Interest Rates on Retail and Manufacturing
In a recent post I referred to data that suggests manufacturing output has been growing much slower than retail sales volumes since 2004. The data suggests that the consumer sectors are booming, while productive sectors are shrinking, which would be … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Becker
Leave a comment
Technology and ABCT
Technology has a very interesting and highly complex effect on business cycles. There is a lot that can be said about this topic but I just want to highlight a few important aspects of technology in its relation to ABCT and … Continue reading
Posted in Russell Lamberti
Tagged ABCT, business cycle, central bank, fractional reserve banking, mises, saving, subsistence fund, technology
2 Comments
Further Thoughts on ABCT
Further to our posts yesterday, out of our discussion on ABCT came some thoughts on the length and shape of the production structure. While it is a feature of boom-bust cycles that during a credit-induced boom the production structure may lengthen … Continue reading
Posted in Russell Lamberti
Tagged ABCT, boom-bust, business cycle, crack-up boom, inflation, mises, production structure, regressing economy, Zimbabwe
Leave a comment
South Africa’s Regressing Economy
I just wrote an important post at my blog about the regressing South African economy, and the risks this poses to the economy and the rand going forward. Assuming the aggregated data below from Stats SA can be trusted, the … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Becker
Leave a comment