Vibhu Vikramaditya



Articles by Vibhu Vikramaditya

Innovation through Antitrust Litigation? The Myth of Linear Progress

There has been a notable resurgence in antitrust litigation aimed at fostering innovation through the potential positive spillovers of technology to other firms. Its advocates argue that breaking up monopolies promotes technology dissemination and economic growth. They believe antitrust litigation enables early-stage innovation in the marketplace. However, this view oversimplifies innovation’s complexity, as it rarely follows a linear path from discovery to consumer application and often requires alternative technologies and market pathways for successful implementation.This linear perspective believing that “progress is inevitable, and we know how it will happen” fails to account for the multifaceted and iterative nature of technological progress, where multiple routes can lead to unified

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Navigating the Slippery Slope: How Hoover’s Interventions Paved the Way for the Great Depression

Herbert Hoover’s presidency is often mythically mischaracterized as a period of strict nonintervention in the economy. However, it was in fact defined by a series of economic maneuvers that not only deviated from laissez-faire ideology, but also significantly contributed to the onset of the Great Depression. He initiated his term in 1929 with a proactive push by establishing the Federal Farm Board and later the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. These testified to his interventionist approach, aimed at countering economic instability with federal support that ranged from agricultural price supports to protective tariffs and substantial public works investments. These policies failed to grasp the underlying economic frailties that, combined with a long recession in overexpanded

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Why Argentina Needs Free Cities

For most of the past century, Argentina has seen the destruction wrought by collectivism. To reverse the damage, the nation must allow decentralization, beginning with free cities.
Original Article: Why Argentina Needs Free Cities

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Why Argentina Needs Free Cities

As the libertarian anarchocapitalist Javier Milei ascends to the Argentinian presidency, the parting of the ominous clouds of socialism has brought about the rising sun of libertarianism on the South American continent. The Argentine legislative system, consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, is designed to bolster democratic governance and accountability.
However, its inherent structure often leads to impasses, particularly with contentious reforms. The presidency of Carlos Menem from 1989 to 1999 marked a pivotal turn toward classical liberalism, implementing broad changes such as widespread privatization, deregulation, and the 1991 convertibility plan, which pegged the Argentine peso to the US dollar. Initially, these reforms attracted foreign investments but soon faced

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What the Technocrats Call “Economic Stability” Is Really Just Inflation

There’s a growing palpable sense of optimism among many economists and journalists that the United States economy is heading toward a growth phase while avoiding recession. They are in turn lauding the Federal Reserve for its strategic handling of inflation—with economic growth and low unemployment rates—as well as praising the efficacy of the Biden administration in reining in prices through social pressure on profit-making and through increases in production via large subsidy grants, along with the stimulus checks that have been distributed generously through various legislative acts.
This optimism and belief in the ability of the government to deal with economic problems come right after experiencing a severe inflationary crisis over the last three years, starting in late 2020. The

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How Markets Self-Corrected during the 1819 and 1919–21 Recessions

As the first signs of an economic tempest move through the United States—an alarming increase in bank failures, a surge in unemployment claims, and a troubling decline in retail sales—we find ourselves perched on the edge of a deep recession. Staring into this uncertain abyss, the self-designated guardians of our financial destiny, the Federal Reserve and the US government, are confronted with a monumental task. When the recession bells toll, how will they respond?
Will the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration again disrupt the market’s natural rhythms through rapid interest rate cuts, quantitative easing (QE), and excessive government spending? These interventionist measures, though designed to cushion economic downturns, distort market signals, leading to resource misallocation

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The Failure of the Federal Reserve: The Covid Boom and Unnecessary Intervention

The Federal Reserve’s failure to meet its own policy goals of price stability and growth has become increasingly evident in the current economic situation in the United States. The country is now facing recessionary fears after experiencing historic inflation due to the misinterpretation of the causes of the Great Depression. The perverse effects of expansionary monetary policies also reflect the failure of the institutional economic position which regards the Federal Reserve as the key benefactor of growth, stability, and security.
Business Contraction and Laissez-Faire Policy
The US government’s response to covid both influenced other governments to lock down their economies and restrict the movement of people, and the cancellation of economic activities affected the global economy. The

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In Defense of Covid “Price Gouging”

The recent inflationary episodes in the USA have led to the emergence of several different explanations, ranging from overexpansion of the money supply to supply-side constraints, not to mention the role of rising markups along with price gouging and greed for profits. Each emphases the unique role that the category has played in the elevated price level.

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Do Falling Prices Cause or Predict a Recession?

In the midst of excessive US economic and geopolitical uncertainties due to rampant inflation and the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 7.7 percent October inflation report comes as a small relief. The unemployment rate touched 3.7 percent in October, remaining near the 3.5 percent prepandemic level and slightly above the 3.4 percent natural rate of unemployment of the fourth quarter of 2021.

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Is There a Case for the Pre-1914 Gold Standard? Yes, if You Believe Inflation is a Bad Thing

The Russian central bank recently announced that it will stop buying gold at a fixed rate and will instead buy them at the negotiated rate from banks. Following the numerous sanctions which were imposed on Russia. The Ruble had fallen tremendously against the US dollar, to get out of such a situation it had announced that it would buy gold at a fixed price of 5,000 rubles a gram until June 30.

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Central Banks: Who Needs Them? No One

As the Federal Reserve hikes its lending rate to a range of 0.25–0.50 percent, murmurs are heard around the world, with financial pundits predicting doom due to the increased pressures imposed on the cost structures of firms that are recovering from the pandemic lockdowns.

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Markets and Private Property, Not Government, Protect the Environment

Each century presents its unique set of problems for lovers of freedom, peace, and prosperity. While the great vanguards of liberty in the twentieth century dealt with the looming shadow of centralization and were engaged in a battle against socialists and statists who argued for centralization and adjudication of individual liberty for the sake of universal material opulence, free markets with the fall of the curtain on the twentieth century have definitely shown that universal material opulence is only compatible with individual economic freedom and liberty.

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