Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman

Austrian vs. Keynesian Economics in the Financial Crisis
by Jeremy R. Hammond

With relevant lessons for today, Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman reveals how the fundamental cause of the the housing bubble that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis was the Federal Reserve’s inflationary monetary policy.

$4.99

Book Description

Why do modern economies go through the “business cycle” of booms and busts? What caused the U.S. housing bubble that precipitated the financial crisis? Who correctly predicted it and who should we listen to for wisdom moving forward? Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman: Austrian vs. Keynesian Economics in the Financial Crisis is an examination of the root cause of the crisis as seen through the eyes of two prominent commentators on the subject, each representing a different school of economic thought.

Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul is today perhaps the most visible proponent of the Austrian school, whose luminaries include Ludwig von Mises and Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich A. Hayek. Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is today perhaps the most well-known voice for the Keynesian school, whose adherents espouse the theories of British economist John Maynard Keynes.

A comparative analysis of these two schools of economic thought as applied to the financial crisis and as promulgated through the views of Ron Paul and Paul Krugman is instructive. Whose school offered more explanatory and predictive power? Whose diagnosis and prescriptions have been better suited to deal with the problem? Who should we listen to now?

Available Editions: Paperback, Kindle, EPUB
Pages: 104

Praise for Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman

“Any work of economics that can make you laugh is at least worth a look. If in less than 100 pages it also informs you about a subject of great importance, it might just qualify as a must-read. Jeremy Hammond, a political journalist self-taught in economics and a writer of rare skill, has produced such a book…. This short work conveys more insight into the causes and cures of business cycles than most textbooks, and more about the recent business cycle than most volumes of much greater length.”

—GENE EPSTEIN, former Economics and Books editor for Barron’s and Director of The Soho Forum, in a review for Barron’s

Amazon Customer Reviews

Jatin S
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Short, to the point, and well structured
One comes away reading this book with little or no doubt as to who’s been right and who’s been wrong. The method the author uses for this is very difficult to take issue with. It’s basically a timeline of who said what when (based on public record), whether they stayed consistent, or whether they backtracked or contradicted themselves after the fact. Even if you agree with Krugman (as many do), it’s startling and worthwhile to see how his writings have evolved over time, and how many mistakes he’s made with his economic predictions and refused to acknowledge. While this may not be the best reflection on the opposing economic theories, it is a good reflection on the two individuals. I highly recommend it.

thomasnash1027
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great read
Got it just in time to finish it before the CNBC debate between Ron Paul and Paul Krugman. As good as the debate was, the book is even better. It touches on many of the biggest economic issues- bailouts, bubbles, stimulus. If none of that interests you, buy it because it’s one of only a handful of books about Ron Paul.

Gene Epstein
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended
Cogent, passionate, clear, informed. Also quite readable. A must for those interested in economics. Jeremy Hammond will be an auther to watch.

Jim Cox
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two thumbs up!
This short book gives the relevant quotes from Ron Paul and Paul Krugman. I don’t know of any other source for such a comprehensive comparison of what these two leaders had to say about monetary policy and the housing bust. Two thumbs up!

Alex P. Keaton
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent. Required reading.
Are you disturbed by the fact that you’ve worked hard and diligently saved your money, but now your savings account yields less than 1% interest? Are you curious as to which economists think punishing savers is a good idea? Mr.Hammond has written a timely book regarding the current economic misery in America and its intellectual foundations. I am quite stunned to read the reviews that claim Mr.Hammond is being biased; he provides COMPLETE references to all his quotes so you can see that nothing is taken out of context. Facts vindicate those who are correct and expose those who are not. There’s no bias here. It is crucial to note that this book discusses economic theory. This is not a “Republican vs. Democrat” issue! There are PLENTY of big government republicans out there. Democrats can appreciate Austrian economics as much as Libertarians do. This book is about acknowledging the fact that economics is a behavioral science. Paul Krugman assumed that a housing bubble would be acceptable because it would slowly fade away as the economy improved; he was wrong. His understanding of the economy is parochial. His inability to admit his mistakes is obvious. His fundamental dishonesty is disgusting. Skeptical democrats need look no further than Jan 2013, (NY Times, “Be Ready To Mint That Coin”), when the good professor suggested a trillion dollar coin. Seriously? If you’re a liberal and even Jon Stewart is mocking you, you know you’ve done something wrong. All kidding aside, Krugman is a poor economist and more than a decade of editorials and blog posts confirm this. Krugman pays homage to Keynes, a splendid mathematician but a poor economist, (not surprisingly, there isn’t a single Fabian Socialist that you can call a competent economist). His editorials and blog posts, particularly read now in 2013, are utterly moronic. Perhaps this could be forgiven (hindsight is 20/20 afterall) except that many did see the problems that awaited us because of the fed’s actions (Ron Paul being one of those people). NY deserves better and the NY Times can certainly do better. For anyone who thinks this book is biased or who just assumes the author is biased because he is criticizing Krugman, have a look at the references. The book is 100 pages, it can be read in no time. Read the book, then go online and see for yourself if the author is biased. Ron Paul was right; Krugman was wrong. Truly excellent work by Mr.Hammond.

Brian Rushka
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Read this book.
I really like this book! I commend the author for his clear perspective. I must admit, the 2007-8 financial crisis fascinates me. (Shortly after reading this book, I rented the movie “The Big Short”). I find the book quite accessible. You don’t need a background in economics or finance to follow the book. Since the purpose of the book is to contrast the ideas of Paul Krugman and Ron Paul, I fully expected the author to have a definite conclusion to share. The author relies on published statements from the two opponents. He quotes them both frequently and at length, with citations you can check. As events have unfolded through the crisis, we are shown the stark contrast between the recommendations, explanations and responses of the two antagonists. This is the kind of illumination an economic disaster demands. If, like me, you believe that our monetary and financial system is a house of cards, then this book might guide you to ask the right questions. I believe this issue is the most important thing for each of us to tackle today. More important than terrorism, immigration or health care.

Amazon Customer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Stars
Hayek was right and Keynes was wrong. Enough said.

Kindle Customer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What has Krugman ever gotten right
I’m sorry but, Paul Krugman has gotten virtually everything wrong when he tries to predict something. Richard Feynman said that it’s not really science if it can predict (look it up on YouTube). Yet Krugman keeps doing his incorrect predictions, and political rants in the New York Times. I would like to think that a Nobel prize winner would at least get one or two things right now and then. At least we had this exposure.

Amazon Customer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Printing Money and Inflation is the samething
This book was written in a Fascinating way to teach anyone that printing money out of thin air and inflation is the samething. Ron Paul is by far the winner in this inflation printing fiat money financial fraud arguments by the Fed…Now the overall argument is that if any of us engages in counterfeiting money we will go to a federal maximum prison and yet the Fed do it everytime they need to supply their banking system cartel with counterfeits currency and they do not do any prison time…Ron Paul 2020!!!Paul Krugman’s position indicates that he probably has full time job with the Fed…

FRG
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Debate with the Fate of Humanity in the Balance
Hammond does a brilliant job of contrasting coherence with control propaganda. I almost felt sorry for Krugman for a moment as his fabricated justifications for fake money, fake banking and his agenda for domination are gently obliterated by common sense, real currency and Paul’s vision for money actually serving everyone’s well-being.

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