Money and the Rule of Law

Peter J. Boettke is a University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, Director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Alexander William Salter is an associate professor of economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and the Comparative Economics Research Fellow at TTU's Free Market Institute. Daniel J. Smith is an associate professor of economics in the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University and the Director of the Political Economy Research Institute.

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Knowledge problems with discretionary monetary policy; 3. Incentive problems with discretionary central banking; 4. When firefighters are arsonists; 5. On the shoulders of giants: monetary policy insights of the classically liberl Nobel Laurates; 6. Money and the rule of law; 7. Conclusion: money and liberalism in the 21st century.

'A profound and highly original assessment of monetary policy and its inseparable connection to the rule of law, a key principal of economic freedom. This is a great read, carefully researched with telling quotes from top policy makers. It dissects tough monetary problems into easy-to-understand pieces – objectives, instruments, targets, and models. It candidly describes political pressures on the Fed with hard evidence from past to present. It creatively uses the great ideas of Hayek, Friedman, and Buchanan to confront the weaker scholarship of today. Most ominously, it warns that Fed is once again expanding its reach and thereby threatening the rule of law.' John Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University