My old friend Richard Rahn has an op-ed titled What is measured? in yesterday’s Washington Times. In addition to his years as Chief Economist at the US Chamber of Commerce, Richard has done lots of work with the Eastern European economies since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Richard’s article is interesting for 2 reasons. First, he discusses how difficult it is to measure what people refer to as the price level, both within one country and across countries. This makes it even more difficult to manage monetary policy.
Second, Richard talks about Warren Coat’s wonderful new book, One Currency for Bosnia: Creating the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Don’t be deterred by the technical-sounding title. This is a great book for everyone interested in events of the past two decades to read.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Warren and his family since I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia in the early 1970’s. He is a man of integrity and principle–one of the staunchest defenders of personal liberty and free markets I know. He is also a man of courage and humanity. After a career in academics and with the IMF, Warren has spent his recent years living in places with bunkers and sandbags, helping the new governments of Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine to form central banks and establish a credible monetary policy. I have been fortunate enough to talk with Warren about his experiences in these places. I strongly advise you to read Warren’s book. You will never again be able to think of foreign policy or economic policy as impersonal policy issues. Warren will help you to understand them through their impacts on the daily lives of the people who are trying to survive and raise their children.
JR
