Ph.D. programme on global financial markets and international financial stability at Jena University and Halle University, Germany

Freitag, 20. März 2009

Freigeld

Given the current stance of monetary policy, further decreases in interest rates are limited. In response, Greg Mankiw in his recent post seems to make a case für Silvio Gesell's old idea of Freigeld.

3 Kommentare:

Martin Klein hat gesagt…

I was quite upset by Mankiw's blog entry. He praises a graduate student as brilliant for proposing something that any Joe Sixpack can read in Wikipedia. And then he praises a colleague for pointing out the obvious, namely that "Schrumpfgeld" was an idea proposed 100 years ago by Silvio Gesell. I see this as a sad sign for the level of economic erudition in the USA.

Diemo Dietrich hat gesagt…

My guess is that its not erudition in general, but a mere lack of literacy concerning continental European thinkers.

P.S.: As an attempt of self-defence: I made the post bevor Mankiw's update has been made.

Martin Klein hat gesagt…

"... lack of literacy concerning continental European thinkers" -- I agree. Perhaps this is a reflection of what Allan Bloom has called The Closing of The American Mind. After all, Silvio Gesell is just another "dead white male".