MONETARY AND BANKING POLICY
James A. Dorn, Vice President for Academic Affairs

Cato Institute's 19th Annual Monetary Conference cosponsored with The Economist
(October 24, 2001)

The Search for Global Monetary Order, The Cato Journal, Vol. 20(1)

The Global Financial Architecture, The Cato Journal 18(3)

The Future of Money in the Information Age

Adjunct Scholars in Money and Banking Issues

 

Money is central to a free-market system; if the value of money is unstable, that instability makes business planning more difficult and interferes with the smooth operation of the market price system. Sound money is also important for the efficient operation of the financial system and for safeguarding economic and personal freedom. Monetary instability can lead to the growth of statism, as shown by the origins of the New Deal in the Great Depression and the rise of fascism during the German hyperinflation of the 1920s. Under the direction of Cato's vice president for academic affairs, James A. Dorn, Cato scholars consider alternatives to discretionary government fiat money that are consistent with individual freedom and a money of stable value. Such alternatives include "denationalized" currencies, gold or other commodity standards, and monetary rules that constrain central banks. Dorn is also responsible for the Institute's annual monetary conference, an event that has attracted leading monetary scholars and policymakers from around the world -- such as Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan, Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers, Nobel laureate Robert Mundell, IMF first deputy managing director Stanley Fischer, NBER Research Associate Anna Schwartz, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Jerry Jordan, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis president William Poole, Harvard professor Jeffrey Sachs, and Carnegie-Mellon professor Allan Meltzer, among others.


Highlights

Recent Studies:

Books:

Events:

  • "Cato Institute's 18th Annual Monetary Conference cosponsored with The Economist" (October 19, 2000), Has the New Economy made traditional tools of monetary policy obsolete or simply made it more difficult for central banks to conduct policy? What should the Fed do? At the Cato Institute's 18th Annual Monetary Conference, cosponsored with The Economist, leading policymakers and monetary experts discussed those questions and related issues.


  • "Whither the Financial Services Industry after the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999?" (April 2000), a policy forum featuring Randall S. Kroszner, Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, Robert E. Litan, Director of Economics Studies, Brookings Institution, and William A. Niskanen, Cato Institute.


  • "The Search for Global Monetary Order" (October 1999), the Cato Institute's 17th annual monetary conference cosponsored with The Economist featuring Jerry Jordan, Anna Schwartz, Ronald McKinnon, Charles Calomiris, Steve Hanke, Stanley Fischer, Leland Yeager, and Peter Kenen, among others.


  • "Dollarization for Latin America?" (March 1999), a policy forum featuring Steve Hanke, Johns Hopkins University, Guillermo Calvo, University of Maryland, and William A. Niskanen, Cato Institute.

Studies and Journal Articles:

Op-Ed Articles:

Adjunct Scholars:

  • Reuven Brenner holds the Racap Chair in Economics at McGill University's School of Management. He is the author of six books, the most recent of which is Labyrinths of Prosperity: Economic Follies, Democratic Remedies. He writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal, Le Figaro, and Asia Times.


  • Tyler Cowen is professor of economics at George Mason University. An expert on banking and monetary policy, he is editor of Public Goods and Market Failures: A Critical Examination and author of In Praise of Commercial Culture.


  • Michael Cox is vice president and economic adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, and coauthor of Myths of Rich and Poor. He is an expert on economic growth, employment and labor policy, monetary theory and policy, and the federal deficit.


  • Kevin Dowd is professor of financial economics at University of Sheffield (England). He is an expert on monetary and financial economics and the history of banking.


  • Bert Ely is a principal of Ely & Company, Inc. He is an expert on monetary policy and the regulation of banking and financial services.


  • Catherine England is visiting assistant professor at the Institute of Graduate and Professional Business Studies, George Mason University. She is an expert on regulation, especially regulation of financial markets and institutions.


  • Steve H. Hanke is professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and a columnist for Forbes magazine. He is an expert on commodity markets, currency markets, privatization, and trade. He is the editor of Capital Markets and Development and Privatization and Development.


  • Jerry L. Jordan is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He is an expert on monetary issues, fiat currency, international debt, and financial institutions.


  • Jonathan Macey is professor of law at Cornell University. He is an expert on corporate finance and the regulation of banking and securities.


  • David I. Meiselman is professor emeritus at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and distinguished research scholar at the Center for the Study of Public Choice, George Mason University. He is an expert on monetary and financial economics, public finance, and international trade and finance. He is the author of The Term Structure of Interest Rates and The Varieties of Monetary Experience.


  • Richard W. Rahn is president of Novecon Ltd. and chairman of the Policy Committee of the Business Leadership Council. He is an expert on economic growth, taxation, and international monetary policy.


  • Roberto Salinas-León is the director of policy analysis at TV Azteca in Mexico City. He is an expert on trade, monetary policy, and economic liberalization in Latin America and coeditor of Money and Markets in the Americas.


  • Pedro Schwartz is professor of economics at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. He is an expert on pensions, monetary policy, and the European Economic Community.


  • George A. Selgin is associate professor of economics at the University of Georgia. He is an expert on banking, monetary policy, and macroeconomics. He is coauthor of Bank Deregulation and Monetary Order.


  • Richard H. Timberlake is a former professor of economics at the University of Georgia. He is an expert on the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and the history of central banking. He is the author of Monetary Policy in the United States.


  • Lawrence H. White is the F.A. Hayek Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is an expert on banking and monetary policy. He is the author of Competition and Currency: Essays on Free Banking and Money.


  • Leland B. Yeager is professor emeritus of economics at Auburn University. He is an expert on monetary policy and international trade.


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