Articles related to Adam Smith
 
Gustave de Molinari
On « Ulcerous government”
By the very fact of their anti-economic constitution, governments have become the ulcers of societies (“les ulcères des sociétés”), to use the strong expression coined by J.B. Say. As population and wealth increase, thanks to the progressive development [531] of competitive industries, a growing mass of vital energy is sucked out of society by the suction pump which are taxes and debts, in order to subsidise the costs of production of public services, or to put it in a better way, to subsidise the support and easy enrichment of the particular class which controls the monopoly of the production of these services.
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
  Silver and Opium 
From the mid-17th century more than 9 billion Troy ounces or 290 thousand metric tons of silver was absorbed by China from European countries in exchange for Chinese goods. The British introduced opium along with tobacco as an export item to China
Saturday, February 6, 2021
Tom DiLorenzo
Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850): Between the French and Marginalist Revolutions 
CLAUDE FREDERIC BASTIAT was a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government. Perhaps the main underlying theme ofBastiat's writings was that the free market was inherently a source of "economic harmony" among individuals, as long as government was restricted to the function of protecting the lives, liberties, and property of citizens from theft or aggression.
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
Fractional Reserve Banking Revisited
"Fractional reserve banking" is a misnomer as it suggests that part of the money created through the loan process is backed by nothing. In reality, the part not backed by gold reserve is fully backed by a bank asset called self-liquidating bill of exchange (bill for short). As Mises himself would admit, bills are capable of monetary circulation (as they did indeed circulate in the Manchester area that lay outside the boundaries of the monopoly of the Bank of England in the 19th century).
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Golden Thorn In The Flesh, Part 2
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Thursday, October 22, 2020
Richard Cantillon (1680-1734)
The Value of Labor
The Labor of the Plowman Is of Less Value than that of the Artisan Abstract: The opportunity cost of becoming a skilled worker includes both the direct expenses as well as the foregone labor during the training period or apprenticeship. As a result, skilled workers must be paid higher wages than unskilled workers. A laborer’s son, at 7 to 12 years of age, begins to help his father either in keeping the herds, digging the ground, or in other sorts of country labor that require no art or skill. If
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The New Austrian School of Economics 
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Saturday, October 3, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Hungarian Connection 
Gold is the most misunderstood metal in human history, because of the economists' failure to distinguish between its dynamic and static aspects in representing values. Economists have blithely assumed all along that the value of gold is the same whether it flows freely from one hand to the next, or whether the movement of gold is obstructed, in the worst case arrested, by the government (soon to be aped by banks and individuals
Friday, September 25, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
Interest and Discount
According to Adam Smith “there are two different ways in which capital may be employed so as to yield a revenue…to its employer…: circulating capital… and fixed capital.” As a first approximation may we just say that one source of credit has to do with fixed capital and its scarcity is measured by the rate of interest, while the other has to do with circulating capital and its scarcity is measured by the discount rate. Both rates are a market phenomenon: the former is regulated by the bond market, and the latter by the bill market. The rate of interest varies inversely with the propensity to save, and the discount rate varies inversely with the propensity to consume. A common mistake is to assume that the two propensities are antithetical, that is, when people save more they must consume less, and vice versa. This simplistic view ignores the propensity to hoard. In monetary
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Gold basis is Dead - Long Live the Gold Basis!
To the government, the gold basis is like the naughty child who blurts out unpleasant truths. He must be gagged and silenced at all hazards. Fool's gold basis is even more important than fool's gold in terms of the number of people victimized.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Invention Of Discounting

Sunday, August 23, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
Our Diseased Monetary Bloodstream
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Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
When Mises Went Wrong
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Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
  The Second Greatest Story Ever Told 
Fable has it that paper currency came into being as warehouse receipts issued by the goldsmith against gold left on deposit for safe-keeping. The owners found that they could make purchases with these warehouse receipts as easily as with gold coins. Then the goldsmith went on lending out at interest his fictitious warehouse receipts. According to this fable, the fraudulent business of the goldsmith in issuing warehouse receipts against non-existent gold was the embryonic form of the fractional-reserve banking of today.
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
What You Always Wanted To Know About Gold* 
To say that the gold standard is not practicable is the same to say that honesty is not practicable, and Constitutions are made to be blithely ignored when convenient. The American Constitution, for example, mandates a metallic monetary standard for the United States in the clearest possible language. Opponents of the gold standard have never been able to muster up the moral fortitude to amend the Constitution so as to formalize the abolishing of the
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
Credit Unions 

Thursday, July 30, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Two Sources Of Credit

Thursday, July 23, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
Second Front In The Gold World
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Monday, July 6, 2020
George F. Smith - Barbarous Relic
Who said it, when and where
Over the years I've accumulated a long list of quotes about money and banking extracted from online articles and books I've read.Unlike most other sites that post pithy remarks from famous authors, I include hyperlinks to their sources, so that anyone who wishes can not only verifya quote but, perhaps more importantly, read the context in which it was used.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Antal E. Fekete - Gold University
The Dismal Monetary Science
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Tuesday, May 19, 2020
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