Category Archive: 6b.) Austrian center

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Printing Money in Times of Corona

2021-03-13

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2021-03-13

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

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No Work in Europe Thanks to Lockdowns

2021-03-04

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2021-03-04

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

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The end of central banking as we know it

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

The severest crisis the European Central Bank (ECB) ever faced coincided with the early days of a new Executive Board. Over the past year and a half, the board’s six members, including the ECB’s president and vice president, have all been replaced, either because they resigned, or because their eight-year mandate expired. 

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Socialist America?

2021-02-24

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2021-02-24

The idea of socialism is still alive and well in 2021. Looking at the progressives on the fringes of the Democratic Party – the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, one might think they are the real culprits keeping the idea alive. Yet, just looking at the 2020 Democratic Party presidential debates, we can see just how alive socialism truly is.

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God, Bitcoin, and Asymmetric Bets

2021-02-22

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2021-02-22

Blaise Pascal was a brilliant mathematician, inventor of the calculating machine, and pioneer of probabilistic theory during the 17th century. His philosophical works were published posthumously under the title of Pensées.

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New Opportunities 2021: Covid-19 and the future of shipping and aviation

2021-02-21

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2021-02-21

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted transportation worldwide, sending shockwaves across supply chains, lowering demand and reducing revenue. Shipping and aviation especially experienced a steep financial decline. Companies have had to operate at limited capacity and growth prospects have dropped sharply. 

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about Government Intervention

2021-02-15

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2021-02-15

US Consumer Goods and Services, Wages Price Change, 2000 - 2020
While I freely self-identify as a libertarian, I don’t think of myself as a philosophical ideologue. Instead, I’m someone who likes digging into data to determine the impact of government policy. And because I’ve repeatedly noticed that more government almost always leads to worse outcomes, I’ve become a practical ideologue.

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Extreme Poverty Shifts Gear… in Reverse

2021-02-11

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2021-02-11

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

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Stillbirths on the Rise

2021-02-09

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2021-02-09

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

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Governments Grow in Size

2021-02-04

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2021-02-04

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

Read More »

The economic cost of lockdowns

2021-01-31

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2021-01-31

As many countries face their second or even third lockdowns (Germany, Austria, Israel), others (Switzerland, the United States) have done what they can to escape such repetitions. Much of the discussion about this drastic move involves its costs.

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New Opportunities 2021: Fiscal policy for the recovery

2021-01-24

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2021-01-24

This GIS 2021 Outlook series focuses on the opportunities that stem from the upheaval of the past year. Coronavirus vaccine distribution has begun, most probably marking the beginning of the end of the global health crisis. A receding pandemic will leave behind intertwined economic and fiscal challenges for countries around the world.

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Vaccine Passports Are a Terrible Idea

2021-01-20

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2021-01-20

Vaccine rollout is advancing at snail pace in the European Union. At the same time, countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel are moving quickly to get large parts of the population vaccinated as promptly as possible. As Europe debates the success or failure of its vaccine policy, some countries want to be one step ahead and discuss the possibility of so-called vaccine passports.

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Fear of Collapse for Small Businesses

2020-12-31

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2020-12-31

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events. Just as there are epidemiological factors to consider in this crisis, there are also economic, social, cultural, political and other health factors at play....

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A Future Hunger Pandemic

2020-12-29

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2020-12-29

The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.

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Deflation: Friend or Foe?

2020-12-20

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2020-12-20

Deflation is the most feared economic phenomenon of our time. The reason behind this a priori irrational fear (why should we be afraid of prices going down?) is the Great Depression.

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The Costs of Coronavirus Lockdowns

2020-12-11

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2020-12-11

Throughout the next weeks, we will regularly feature statistics showing some of the costs of the prevailing lockdown politics. This article is an introduction to this new series. All over Europe, life has come to a halt again. As a second wave of Coronavirus infections has arrived, social and economic life has largely once more, as was already the case in spring when COVID-19 first spread across the world.

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Oil market outlook: Land in sight but rough seas ahead

2020-12-07

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2020-12-07

In November, new vaccines showed great promise in fighting Covid-19, and the exhilaration was clear in markets around the world. However, the enthusiasm was not sustained. Many experts and political leaders rushed to warn that while a vaccine could mean the end of the health crisis, the economy – and oil markets in particular – are still in for a rough ride.

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This Pandemic Has Too Many Predictable “I Told You So’s”

2020-12-06

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2020-12-06

Most of Europe is back in lockdown, presumably as punishment for our sins of going outside during the summer, and as preparation for the Christmas holidays. It feels like being back in school, where a patronizing teacher indicates that the children are incapable of behaving themselves. To some Europeans, this is a surprising development. Yet to lovers of liberty, the fact that power leads to ever-expanding power is no news.

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