The best approach here, if at all possible, is to use supervisory and regulatory methods to restrain undue risk-taking and to make sure the system is resilient in case an asset-price bubble bursts in the future.

A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman's famous 'helicopter drop' of money.

I don't fully understand movements in the gold price.

The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.

The basic prescription for preventing deflation is therefore straightforward, at least in principle: Use monetary and fiscal policy as needed to support aggregate spending, in a manner as nearly consistent as possible with full utilization of economic resources and low and stable inflation. In other words, the best way to get out of trouble is not to get into it in the first place.

Developments in financial markets can have broad economic effects felt by many outside the markets.

If current trends continue, the typical U.S. worker will be considerably more productive several decades from now. Thus, one might argue that letting future generations bear the burden of population aging is appropriate, as they will likely be richer than we are even taking that burden into account.