
Episode 128
Government-Mandated Shutdown: Monetary & Fiscal Policy in Crisis | George Selgin

Episode 128
George Selgin
Government-Mandated Shutdown: Monetary & Fiscal Policy in Crisis | George Selgin
summary
In Episode 128 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with George Selgin, director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute about the recently announced monetary and fiscal policy measures being undertaken to stem the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the government mandated shutdown of the American economy. This is a deep-dive into the specifics of the Federal Reserve and US government’s policies, including the mechanics of the monetary and fiscal stimulus.
We are living in unprecedented times. The closest analogy to what we are experiencing is the mobilization undertaken to fight World War II with one crucial difference: this is a radical demobilization of the American economy. To fight the virus, Americans are being asked to stay in their homes and move about as little as possible. In order to survive a prolonged period of commercial inactivity governments have moved swiftly to pass monetary and fiscal stimulus measures that are themselves as unprecedented as the current lock-down of the global economy. How far will these measures go and what will Western countries like the United States look like on the other side of this crisis? Answering this question may prove more important than any other we have posed before on this program, and we try to answer it today.
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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bio
George Selgin is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Georgia. His research covers a broad range of topics within the field of monetary economics, including monetary history, macroeconomic theory, and the history of monetary thought. He is the author of The Theory of Free Banking (Rowman & Littlefield, 1988); Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage (University of Michigan Press, 2008); Money: Free & Unfree (The Cato Institute, 2017); Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (The Cato Institute, 2018) and, most recently, Floored! How a Misguided Fed Experiment Deepened and Prolonged the Great Recession (The Cato Institute, 2018). Selgin is one of the founders, with Kevin Dowd and Lawrence H. White, of the Modern Free Banking School, which draws its inspiration from the writings of F. A. Hayek on denationalization of money and choice in currency. Selgin has written for numerous scholarly journals, including the British Numismatic Journal; the Economic Journal; the Economic History Review; the Journal of Economic Literature; and the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; and for popular outlets such as the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. Selgin holds a BA in economics and zoology from Drew University, and a PhD in economics from New York University.
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Tantum dico, magis fuisse vestrum agere Epicuri diem natalem, quam illius testamento cavere ut ageretur. Sed fac ista esse non inportuna; Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. Estne, quaeso, inquam, sitienti in bibendo voluptas? Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Itaque hic ipse iam pridem est reiectus; Nam de isto magna dissensio est. Cum praesertim illa perdiscere ludus esset. Qua tu etiam inprudens utebare non numquam.
Ut proverbia non nulla veriora sint quam vestra dogmata. Qui autem de summo bono dissentit de tota philosophiae ratione dissentit. Sed emolumenta communia esse dicuntur, recte autem facta et peccata non habentur communia. Satisne vobis videor pro meo iure in vestris auribus commentatus? Rhetorice igitur, inquam, nos mavis quam dialectice disputare? At miser, si in flagitiosa et vitiosa vita afflueret voluptatibus. Ne amores quidem sanctos a sapiente alienos esse arbitrantur.
Sit, inquam, tam facilis, quam vultis, comparatio voluptatis, quid de dolore dicemus? Si verbum sequimur, primum longius verbum praepositum quam bonum. Quid ergo aliud intellegetur nisi uti ne quae pars naturae neglegatur? Traditur, inquit, ab Epicuro ratio neglegendi doloris. Itaque primos congressus copulationesque et consuetudinum instituendarum voluntates fieri propter voluptatem; Hoc dixerit potius Ennius: Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. Sint modo partes vitae beatae.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nec lapathi suavitatem acupenseri Galloni Laelius anteponebat, sed suavitatem ipsam neglegebat; Roges enim Aristonem, bonane ei videantur haec: vacuitas doloris, divitiae, valitudo; Istic sum, inquit. An, partus ancillae sitne in fructu habendus, disseretur inter principes civitatis, P. Sed quid attinet de rebus tam apertis plura requirere? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Cave putes quicquam esse verius. Hoc est vim afferre, Torquate, sensibus, extorquere ex animis cognitiones verborum, quibus inbuti sumus. Ut alios omittam, hunc appello, quem ille unum secutus est.
Esse enim, nisi eris, non potes. Quo plebiscito decreta a senatu est consuli quaestio Cn. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Idemne, quod iucunde? Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Quid est igitur, inquit, quod requiras?
Sed utrum hortandus es nobis, Luci, inquit, an etiam tua sponte propensus es? Illo enim addito iuste fit recte factum, per se autem hoc ipsum reddere in officio ponitur. Cyrenaici quidem non recusant; Quos quidem tibi studiose et diligenter tractandos magnopere censeo.
Quorum sine causa fieri nihil putandum est. Non enim quaero quid verum, sed quid cuique dicendum sit. Dic in quovis conventu te omnia facere, ne doleas. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Igitur neque stultorum quisquam beatus neque sapientium non beatus. Bestiarum vero nullum iudicium puto. Itaque rursus eadem ratione, qua sum paulo ante usus, haerebitis. Ex rebus enim timiditas, non ex vocabulis nascitur.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quamquam non negatis nos intellegere quid sit voluptas, sed quid ille dicat. Hoc etsi multimodis reprehendi potest, tamen accipio, quod dant. Inde sermone vario sex illa a Dipylo stadia confecimus. Hoc est vim afferre, Torquate, sensibus, extorquere ex animis cognitiones verborum, quibus inbuti sumus. Non laboro, inquit, de nomine. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Apparet statim, quae sint officia, quae actiones. Isto modo ne improbos quidem, si essent boni viri. Non est igitur voluptas bonum.
Nescio quo modo praetervolavit oratio. Ita relinquet duas, de quibus etiam atque etiam consideret. In schola desinis. Nunc ita separantur, ut disiuncta sint, quo nihil potest esse perversius. Audax negotium, dicerem impudens, nisi hoc institutum postea translatum ad philosophos nostros esset. Tum ille timide vel potius verecunde: Facio, inquit. Non quaero, quid dicat, sed quid convenienter possit rationi et sententiae suae dicere. Alterum significari idem, ut si diceretur, officia media omnia aut pleraque servantem vivere.
Multoque hoc melius nos veriusque quam Stoici. Traditur, inquit, ab Epicuro ratio neglegendi doloris. Quis non odit sordidos, vanos, leves, futtiles?
Certe, nisi voluptatem tanti aestimaretis. Qua tu etiam inprudens utebare non numquam. Quis enim confidit semper sibi illud stabile et firmum permansurum, quod fragile et caducum sit? Verum hoc idem saepe faciamus.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. At iam decimum annum in spelunca iacet. Nam Metrodorum non puto ipsum professum, sed, cum appellaretur ab Epicuro, repudiare tantum beneficium noluisse; Ut nemo dubitet, eorum omnia officia quo spectare, quid sequi, quid fugere debeant? Qualis ista philosophia est, quae non interitum afferat pravitatis, sed sit contenta mediocritate vitiorum? Nam et complectitur verbis, quod vult, et dicit plane, quod intellegam; Quid igitur, inquit, eos responsuros putas?
Ergo ita: non posse honeste vivi, nisi honeste vivatur? Ab his oratores, ab his imperatores ac rerum publicarum principes extiterunt. Quod quidem iam fit etiam in Academia. Tum Piso: Quoniam igitur aliquid omnes, quid Lucius noster? Videmus igitur ut conquiescere ne infantes quidem possint.
Traditur, inquit, ab Epicuro ratio neglegendi doloris. Itaque eos id agere, ut a se dolores, morbos, debilitates repellant. Duo enim genera quae erant, fecit tria. Non semper, inquam; Tu autem negas fortem esse quemquam posse, qui dolorem malum putet. Servari enim iustitia nisi a forti viro, nisi a sapiente non potest. Quae in controversiam veniunt, de iis, si placet, disseramus.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed quanta sit alias, nunc tantum possitne esse tanta. Esse enim quam vellet iniquus iustus poterat inpune. Philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerumque moriuntur. Scientiam pollicentur, quam non erat mirum sapientiae cupido patria esse cariorem. Quod si ita se habeat, non possit beatam praestare vitam sapientia. Sit sane ista voluptas. Itaque hic ipse iam pridem est reiectus;