The shocking onslaught of the Russian military into the Ukraine, and Kiev (or Kyiv) in particular, prompts thoughts of what relationship has obtained, over the long run of history, between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the topics associated with this historical matter can be difficult if not controversial to relate and reckon with. Events nonetheless have brought it to the fore of our attention.

Robert A. Mundell, the 1999 Nobel Prizewinner in economics and in an easy argument the greatest economist of the last several generations, died April 4 in his beloved Italy at the age of 88.

Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker all but advocated a price rule for monetary policy beginning in the latter half of 1982. He despaired of the major options to a price-rule, namely quantity and interest-rate targeting, and urged that instead, the exchange value of the dollar be given priority in Fed monetary-policy deliberations. In coming to this conclusion, this reorientation of the Fed’s strategy and outlook which occasioned opposition from his board, Volcker sought to reorient monetary policy in anticipation of a major episode of non-inflationary economic growth that appeared to be in the offing as the second year of the Ronald Reagan presidency came to a close.

Currency boards have attracted increasing interest in recent years—and months—because signs of another international monetary crisis are beginning to gather. The prevailing monetary system does not comport with the actual monetary order of the world. Currency boards can, on all important criteria, close the currently yawning gap between the world monetary system and its order. The only risks entailed in currency boards are those associated with the great success and prosperity that they bring without fail.