Has economics fallen to politics? Court economists like Paul Krugman–we might call them "regime economists"–represent a profession in big trouble. Jeff and Bob discuss.

In the wake of Alan Greenspan's recent passing, Bob revisits two contested claims about his legacy: did the Fed under Greenspan fuel the housing bubble, and did that bubble cause the 2008 financial crisis?

Related:

• Bob's Article from October, 2007, "The Worst Recession in 25 years?": Mises.org/HAP557a
• Peter Schiff was Right (2006-2007 Edition): Mises.org/HAP557b
• Mark Thornton, 2004, "Housing: Too Good to Be True": Mises.org/HAP557c
• Bob's 2008 Article, "The Importance of Capital Theory": Mises.org/HAP557d
• The Charts Shown in this Episode: Mises.org/HAP557e

Bob uses U.S. economic history, centering on the greenback era, to work through some subtle but important distinctions in Austrian monetary theory. He also addresses whether free-market economies have a natural tendency toward price deflation under a commodity standard, why the stock-versus-flow distinction matters for understanding gold production and the price level, and how to distinguish "bad" policy-induced monetary deflation from the "good" price deflation that accompanies genuine productivity growth.

Related:

• Patrick Newman, "The Depression of 1873-1879: An Austrian Perspective": Mises.org/HAP558a
• Clarence Long, "The Course of Money Wages during 1860-1890": Mises.org/HAP558b
• Bob's Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/HAP558c
• Bob's Article, "Hayek’s Plan for Private Money": Mises.org/HAP558d
• The Charts Shown in this Episode: Mises.org/HAP558e

Bob sits down with the managing editor of the Libertarian Institute, Keith Knight, to sample arguments from his recent four-hour video cataloguing sixty-four problems with democratic socialism.

Related:

• Find More from Keith Here: Mises.org/HAP559a
• 64 Arguments Against Democratic Socialism: Mises.org/HAP559b
• Keith's Domestic Imperialism: Nine Reasons I Left Progressivism: Mises.org/HAP559c

Bob sits down with fund manager and author Lawrence Lepard to discuss his book The Big Print, which argues that the core problem with modern America is not corporate greed or partisan politics, but a monetary system deliberately structured to benefit those closest to the Fed at the expense of wage earners and savers.

Related:

• The Big Print: What Happened To America And How Sound Money Will Fix It: Mises.org/HAP555a

Bob sits down with Harvard Economics Professor Pol Antràs to discuss his new paper applying Böhm-Bawerk's average period of production to international trade, testing whether countries with lower interest rates tend to export goods requiring longer, more roundabout production processes.

Related:

• Professor Antràs' Paper, "An ‘Austrian’ Model of International Specialization": Mises.org/HAP554a
• Bob's Article, "The Reswitching Question": Mises.org/HAP554b

Bob sits down with economists Alexander Salter and Joshua Hendrickson to discuss their new paper arguing that the standard Austrian critique of the Fed while correct, is fundamentally incomplete. They argue that the Fed's actual institutional role is to backstop U.S. dollar hegemony: the deliberately constructed post-Bretton Woods system in which the dollar serves as the world's reserve currency, U.S. Treasuries as the global safe asset, and the Fed as buyer of last resort for sovereign debt worldwide.

Related:

• Hendrickson & Salter, "Should We End the Fed? Can We?": Mises.org/HAP553a