"Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions by Peter Boettke, Alexander Salter, and Daniel Smith is a profound and highly original assessment of monetary policy and its inseparable connection to the rule of law, a key principal of economic freedom. It is a great read, carefully researched with telling quotes from top policy makers. It dissects tough monetary problems into easy-to-understand pieces—objectives, instruments, targets, and models. It candidly describes political pressures on the Fed with hard evidence from past to present. It creatively uses the great ideas of Hayek, Friedman, and Buchanan to confront the weaker scholarship of today. Most ominously, it warns that Fed is once again expanding its reach and thereby threatening the rule of law."
"Like Hayek, Friedman, and Buchanan before them, Boettke, Salter, and Smith argue convincingly for fundamental changes in institutional design that, by enforcing rules over discretion in monetary policymaking, will help restore economic prosperity and the smooth functioning of our liberal democratic system. Anyone with a serious interest in using economics to improve the lives of all Americans should read this book."
"Money and the Rule of Law, by Peter Boettke, Daniel Smith, and Alexander Salter, takes a fascinating deep dive - a dive off of a springboard founded by economists as diverse as Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes, F.A. Hayek, and John Taylor - into the thesis that money creation and responsible monetary institutions are as fundamentally important for our prosperity as any institution. This book couldn't have arrived at a better time, when many believe money can be printed without consequence and when monetary institutions are increasingly coming under enormous political, cultural, and social pressure to perform the impossible. Their well-argued conclusion that the fragility of good monetary systems should fundamentally be embedded within the rule of law makes this book important for all readers hoping to preserve good governance, promote shared prosperity, and limit expropriation by those who would exploit democratic institutions."
"This book is required reading for anyone concerned about monetary policymakers’ management of the COVID 19 economic crisis and, especially, their lack of attention to the long-term impacts of their historically dramatic monetary policy changes."
"From the adoption of the US Constitution to the founding of the Federal Reserve System, policymakers concluded that a currency anchored by a gold standard was essential to maintain monetary discipline. However, during our central banks’ century of existence, it evolved into an undisciplined discretionary system of fiat money creation. In “Money and the Rule of Law,” the authors provide a very much needed road map for returning to a disciplined monetary system for the remainder of the 21st century."
"Many economists rightly advocate the rule of law, and allocation by markets rather than by expert central planners, as the key to economic development. Too few apply these principles to monetary institutions. Boettke, Smith, and Salter offer an insightful alternative. They diagnose the serious problems with the management of our money by central bankers who exercise discretion unconstrained by the rule of law. And they point the way toward much better arrangements. Highly recommended."
"Boettke, Salter, and Smith have produced a well-researched, well-written, highly-readable gem. By weaving the technical, philosophical, institutional, historical, and empirical aspects of money tightly together with the thread of economic principles, they are able to present money in a new light—the light of the rule of law. With that, the authors masterfully show why virtually every idea in vogue today has been tried before and why each has failed time and time again."