[johnwinters91]

To what extent can we know if Coolidge’s economic policies and tax/spending cuts worked, given that, at least according to my understanding of Rothbard, the 20’s prosperity was simply an inflationary boom caused by the Fed in an attempt to help the Bank of England by equalizing the exchange rates?

[hood.roman]

I wondered the same thing for a long time. Check this out: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2624357

Its about the pre-Coolidge situation but it does relate to the question of fiscal austerity vs inflationary fed after the depression of 1920-21.

[woods]

I’m not convinced that the entire 1920s was just a fake boom. The Newman paper above is helpful. Jeff Herbener also notes that people who claim inflationism got us out of the depression of 1920-21 are wrong: https://tomwoods.com/was-the-fed-expansionary-from-1921-1924/

There is definitely some Fed inflation in the 1920s, but I don’t think it invalidates all the prosperity of the period.

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