Labour
Change at the Bundesbank: from Weidmann to Nagel?
Joachim Nagel’s appointment highlights the importance of politics at the apex of German central banking. Veteran central bank watcher Klaus C Engelen looks at the media reaction and asks if Buba/ECB discord is set to continue
Union objects to Colombian central bank’s branch closures
Bank of the Republic is converting some regional offices to cultural centres, closing treasuries
Alternative data fuels central bank research
Important research areas include monetary transmission, exchange rates, digitisation, SMEs and climate change, against the backdrop of Covid
Pandemic spurred use of alternative data
Advanced and emerging market economies prioritise different applications
Tackling surging inflation
Central banks around the world are grappling with rapid price rises, with some taking very different routes to one another
How Turkey’s president created chaos in economic policy-making
Observers allege presidential domination of the central bank, unauthorised FX transactions and untrustworthy statistics
RBNZ continues tightening as inflation approaches 5%
Rising commodity and transport costs see central bank overshoot 2% inflation target
James Bullard on Fed policy, action and governance
St Louis president calls for tapering amid “exceptional” job market and risk of “more persistent” inflation, quantifies ‘big tent language’ for pioneering AIT move, and details Congress’s role in Fed ethics oversight
BoE cuts UK growth forecast
Inflation likely to stay above 4% for first half of 2022 amid supply constraints and energy squeeze – MPC
Book notes: How boards work, by Dambisa Moyo
Moyo offers insights into the skills required to be a valued board director, as well as a thought-provoking list of issues that may appear with greater frequency on future board agendas
Link between US labour costs and inflation has weakened – ECB paper
US can sustain robust labour markets without risking inflation outbreak, researchers say
Central banks’ payments operations staffed more than oversight function
Advanced economies tend to have higher staff numbers in both functions
Fed launches standing repo facilities
Facilities to be open to foreign central banks and domestic primary dealers; FOMC keeps policy on hold
The ‘golden age’ of central banking has passed
Central banks face multi-faceted challenges and weakened autonomy amid highly polarised inflation expectations
Charles Goodhart on inflation targets, financial stability and the role of money
The LSE professor says inflation targets should have been 0%, the Fed’s move to AIT is a mistake, independence is under threat from inflation, big balance sheets support liquidity, AI can help supervisors and climate stress tests are unconvincing
A return of the inflation monster?
There are fears that a shift in intellectual approach towards running economies ‘hot’ could herald a return of the money-eating inflation era
Lifetime achievement: Charles Goodhart
The LSE and BoE veteran economist has his own ‘law’, and played a key role in the establishment of monetary policy in the UK, Hong Kong’s peg and the ‘New Zealand model’, which influenced a generation of central bankers
The Covid crisis, central banks and the future
Crisis responses have had positive initial outcomes, but also exacerbated significant underlying challenges that raise concerns related to exit strategies and the future for central banks
National statistical agencies must measure informal economy – IMF
Fund outlines new framework for informal economy consistent with GDP methodology
Early non-employment ‘scars’ workers – Bank of Italy paper
Effect is particularly severe for non-graduates and when conditions are good, research finds
Hernández de Cos on ECB policy, crises responses and Basel reform
Spanish governor and Basel Committee chair Pablo Hernández de Cos favours a form of average inflation targeting, says ECB is willing to boost stimulus and Basel reforms not diminished by Covid-19 exceptions; stresses the need for structural reform and…
Whither the age of ‘magic money’?
EME central banks are more exposed to changes in geopolitics, climate, demography, technology and inflation at a time when monetary theory is running well behind central bank practice
Monetary unions in the making in Africa
EAC, Ecowas and SADC can adopt practical steps learned from EMU to prepare for their own currency unions
Climate change on the agenda for most economics departments
Central banks explore a wide range of topics, with some differences between advanced economies and EMEs