# The Skyscraper Curse  ## Metadata - Author: [[Mark Thornton]] - Full Title: The Skyscraper Curse - Category: #books ## Highlights - whenever the idea that the business cycle may have been tamed forever starts to become mainstream, the bust is around the corner. ([Location 71](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=71)) - Austrian business cycle theory, in turn, is probably the most important piece of economic information and understanding for Americans and indeed the world to understand right now. ([Location 94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=94)) - When the central bank lowers interest rates below what they would have reached on the market, ([Location 97](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=97)) - conventional view that freedom has failed us and we need still more controls. ([Location 102](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=102)) - huge gaps in the explanation of many basic concepts, such as supply and demand. ([Location 117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=117)) - Böhm-Bawerk showed that interest was based on the time preferences of workers and capitalists, savers and borrowers. ([Location 122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=122)) - a market economy populated with individuals with low time preferences and interest rates would, over a long period, be characterized by a large accumulation of savings that is turned into large amounts of “brick and mortar” capital and advanced-technology production processes. The division of labor would be highly specialized. People would be wealthy and have a high standard of living. ([Location 126](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=126)) - Austrian macroeconomics.[2] ([Location 135](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=135)) - Note: A non sequester. The Austrian method does not lead to macro-economics. - “This paper does not have a testable hypothesis.” ([Location 137](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=137)) - Cantillon showed how the interest rate and the money supply can create changes and distortions in the economy, a phenomenon now referred to as Cantillon effects. ([Location 141](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=141)) - Note: Notice: money supply AND Interest rates. - the Skyscraper Index’s “curse” has correctly forecast all major economic crises for over a century. ([Location 200](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=200)) - Skyscraper construction does not cause business cycles. ([Location 215](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=215)) - Skyscrapers are essentially part of the boom phase of the cycle. ([Location 217](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=217)) - artificially very low interest rates and artificially very easy credit conditions. ([Location 218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=218)) - They practice retrodiction, rarely prediction. ([Location 238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=238)) - Andrew Lawrence. ([Location 293](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=293)) - Skyscraper Index, ([Location 294](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=294)) - the building of the tallest skyscrapers coincides with economic booms. ([Location 294](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=294)) - the number of skyscrapers may not be market determined. ([Location 314](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=314)) - the political business cycle theory ([Location 344](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07G3HZS24&location=344))