Niall Ferguson the famous Harvard historian appears to be reading Mises.org. Not only is his Newsweek article painfully realistic regarding the prospects for the American Empire, but he also quotes Paul Krugman–the exact same quote that Ben Lee dug up and published on Mises.org.
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From page 3-4 of Ferguson:
Now, who said the following? “My prediction is that politicians will eventually be tempted to resolve the [fiscal] crisis the way irresponsible governments usually do: by printing money, both to pay current bills and to inflate away debt. And as that temptation becomes obvious, interest rates will soar.”
Seems pretty reasonable to me. The surprising thing is that this was none other than Paul Krugman, the high priest of Keynesianism, writing back in March 2003.
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There seem to be other similarities between the two articles.
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How did you know?
The thing you gotta love about Mises.org is that nobody here is accusing Ferguson of piracy. Instead, the author and most people who read this post will be happy that our free ideas are spreading.
It’s in the water at Harvard
That’s right AJ
The reason I “knew” about the coincidence is that Ben Lee sent me a set of Krugman quotes where Paul called for the Fed to cause a housing bubble back in 2001 (to get us out of the recession) which I then posted to the Mises blog here:
Krugman Did Cause the Housing Bubble
2009.06.17 | Comments (61) :
http://blog.mises.org/archives/010153.asp
When Ben sent me the second set of quotes I suggested that he write the article and rightfully take the credit. So when I read Niall Ferguson’s article the quote in question jumped off the screen. I copied and searched Mises.org and Ben’s article was the first hit, as I suspected.
I’m a big fan of Ferguson. His book on WWII is the best I have read. He wrote an article for Atlantic on the crisis, and did a documentary for PBS, both of which came very close to Austrian econ.
Some analysts label Ferguson a Tory and neoconservative but not in the sense of the AEI crowd concerning the latter. They say he wants the US to grow up and realize its destiny: to be the new and improved replacement for the British Empire.
See Niall Ferguson address the fiscal crisis and the economic ramifications in his recent interview with Charlie Rose.
Stephen,
Thanks, watching now. At the third minute I had to stop and take note of more evidence for Dr. Thornton: Ferguson mentions the introduction to the German edition of “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” where Keynes explains that his policies would be more suited to totalitarian economies. I know that Professor Raico of the Mises Institute has discussed this issue many times before.
A late instantiation from Raico can be found starting on page 9 of “Was Keynes a Liberal?” completed around 2008.
Also read intro statements at your Disraeli-Macdonald Institute for Organic Toryism. Are you saying that Ferguson is in your club? Does he have your unique Maritain-esque mix of Austrian Econ and Catholic Social Teaching? (although not the same as Maritain of course) Would Ferguson say as much?
Ah, but Ferguson supports the enormous expansion of the monetary base done by Bernanke a la Friedman monetarism. (during minute 19, Rose interview)
Not an Austrian here.
Fallon,
Thanks for your comments; I had forgotten that Niall Ferguson mentioned the German introduction to The General Theory, in which Keynes is doubtful that democracies can effectively implement his ‘full employment’ measures.
I can’t speak for Ferguson as part of the DMI club, although I doubt he shares my ‘wet Tory’ sensibilities, he being an orthodox economic historian and me being more ‘radical’ in the Disraelian Tory tradition.
I fear my own economic stance parts ways with pure Austrian economics since, for example, I’m amenable to ‘interventions’ such as unemployment insurance. Mea culpa!
However, there is much in Austrian economic theory I admire, and it is a wonderful means of self-criticism, especially by employing Frédéric Bastiat’s dictum to keep in mind the short- and the long-term, and to act for the common weal and not for special interests. (I recommend Diana Furchtgott-Roth’s essay ‘Job Creation: The Seen and Unseen‘ which she bases on Bastiat’s famous essay about the broken window fallacy.)
i watched his tv documentary “the ascent of money”. not at all austrian, a mainstream treatment, as i recall. pity, because the production was a flashy one and the timing was right. missed opportunity.
I believe Rothbard mentioned that infamous Keynes introduction in this speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXJAEpaBcU
Hard Rain,
Why yes he does! Rothbard references Henry Hazlitt and James Martin as earlier translators of the infamous fascist friendly forward. Is this knowledge so common that Ferguson could have picked it up almost anywhere?
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