Publications, August

August was an intense and heavily concentrated month – all writings this month at AIER and Notes On Liberty. Almost exclusively financial history, money and bitcoin!

Notes On Liberty: (see all my posts here)

• [1] 'On Translating Earnings From the Past', I illustrated the troubles all economists and economic historians are faced with: how do we show how much a certain sum (income, wage, price) was really worth in the past? Measuringworth.com is a great resource, but be aware of what you're comparing and getting at. 
• I started a new series that I manage at Notes, 'Financial History to the Rescue', where I attempt to show how a lot of monetary writing on bitcoin does a very poor job in its generalized claims for monetary change. Not to mention erroneously invoking monetary/financial history. The impetus came from the very inspirational debate between Saifedean Ammous and George Selgin at the Soho Forum at the beginning of this month. A few days after the debate, the deep dark corner of the cryptosphere descended upon me. That was fun. Two pieces on Notes: 
• [2] 'On Bitcoin's Many Troubles', the Master post for 'Financial History to the Rescue', examined some of the problems with Ammous' bitcoin position.
• [3] 'The Harder Money Wins Out', which was featured on RealClearMarkets, used the history of the Bank of Amsterdam (1609-1791) to show that sometimes softer money wins out over harder money. The "Bitcoiner's History of Money" is, in other words, pretty mistaken.

American Institute for Economic Research (all my pieces here)

• [4] 'Egregious Errors in The New Yorker's Account of Financial History', where I took apart John Lanchester's poorly researched long-piece in The New Yorker magazine (mistitled 'The Invention of Money'). 
• Out of everything I wrote this month, I received overwhelming feedback on this one. 
• It was linked to and shared in the Society of Paper Money Collectors Inc's monthly publication
• and mentioned at the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
• [5] 'The Life and Times of Bagehot, the Greatest Victorian', reviewing James Grant's biography of Walter Bagehot. Despite pre-ordering Grant's great book and reading like a maniac, I was late to the party. And very surprised that pretty much every major outlet had a review of their own (NYT, Economist, FT, the Times, WSJ, Washington Post). Impressive work by Grant's publisher!
• [6] 'Rothbard's First Impression On Free Banking Were Correct', where I outlined some of the major historical and empirical mistakes of Rothbard's 1988 article 'Myth of Free Banking in Scotland'. Every mention of "free banking" and "Scotland" among Austrians and bitcoiners run straight into The Rothbard Objection: Rothbard rebutted it in 1988, so any banking argument based on Scotland 1700-1845 is forever null and void. My former Mises colleague Kristoffer Hansen objected, first in comments and later on Mises.org – I replied in two instructive Twitter threads  (here and here). Great discussion if you're into banking history and fractional reserves
• This piece was re-printed in Capitalism Magazine with a stunning caption of Neist Point Lighthouse on Isle of Skye. 
• [7] 'Bitcoin's Fixed Money Supply is a Weakness'. In another episode of 'Financial History to the Rescue' (which for this piece is more appropriately titled "monetary theory to the rescue"), I objected to Bitcoin's fixed money supply and its viability as base money/outside money regime. 
• Reprinted at WallStreetWindow.com. 
• [8] 'Why Shouldn't Brazil Burn its Rainforest?', I finished off the month addressing some of the absurdities and environmental hysteria surrounding the fires in the Amazon and added a Swedish twist – only to have the brilliant Matt Ridley outdo me in a piece in The Spectator a few hours after publication.
• This piece ran at the Italian site Miglioverde with the title "Foresta Amazzonica, Tutte Le Balle Degli Ambientalisti E Una Sola Soluzione"
• Also on Mises Brasil as "Por que proibir o Brasil de explorar suas florestas? – E o exemplo sueco"; like all things, credentials and arguments sound much better in Portuguese
• Shared (In Portuguese) by the site MoneyReport.com.br
• Shared by the Singaporean Adam Smith Center. 

Overall, a pretty successful months! It seems like September has some pretty exciting things in store, which I'm definitely looking forward to.