Deficits, Debt, and Debasement | Scott A. Beaulier and Peter J. Boettke | Cato Institute: Policy Report

In 1977 James Buchanan and Richard Wagner warned about the political legacy of Keynesian economics. "Sober assessment suggests that, politically, Keynesianism may represent a substantial disease," the two wrote in Democracy in Deficit, "one that can, over the long run prove fatal for a functioning democracy." If economic policies are not somehow constrained by rules and supermajorities, deficits are the predictable outcome of democracy. "The bottom line: political capitalism is not laissez faire capitalism," they write. "To continue down our current path is to reinforce the perverse folly of politics that has threatened the viability of the current economic system."

Deficits, Debt, and Debasement | Scott A. Beaulier and Peter J. Boettke | Cato Institute: Policy Report