Opinion/Monetary Policy
BOJ must set inflation target to prompt growth
ARTICLE - As the government's effort to end the bad-debt quandary is apparently shifting into a higher gear, concerns are growing that accelerated bad-loan write-offs could worsen, at least in the short term, the deflation that is sapping Japan's…
Banking Bunkum
ARTICLE - The Asia Times takes a look at central banks and suggests they have similar characteristics to libraries, where books and money serve the same purpose. They also tell us that ex Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker once said "central bankers…
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature, CentralBankNet looks at the prospects for interest rates. The Bank of England, ECB and Federal Reserve all convene their respective committee's this week for regular monetary policy meetings and there is a…
Europe's best defence against deflation
ARTICLE - Many people are worried about deflation. Severe deflation, as in the early 1930s, is catastrophic; mild deflation, as in Japan today, could become self-reinforcing. There are, moreover, similarities between early 1990s Japan and parts of Europe…
The Fed should cut next week
ARTICLE - The US economy is growing around trend, unemployment is at its lowest post-recession peak for decades, the housing market is firing on all cylinders - and the financial markets are expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to a 40…
Rand defence
ARTICLE - Tito Mboweni, South Africa's Reserve Bank governor, is taking the defence of his country's currency to new lengths. On Friday, Mboweni donned military regalia for his appointment as an honorary colonel of the 1st South African Tank Regiment.
Single currency a stable solution
ARTICLE - A common currency would bring more security to everyone in the Asia-Pacific region an article in the Australian Financial Review, 27 September claimed.
Commission to assess benefits for UK's euro entry
ARTICLE - Eleven of the world's leading economists will serve on a new commission to consider the consequences for Britain's economy of a decision to reject membership of the euro.
AGCC reaffirms switchover plan to single currency
ARTICLE - Governors of AGCC central banks have reaffirmed their commitment to introducing a common currency for the six-member Arab states, as Gulf economies are gradually embracing the idea of globalisation and financial sector liberalisation.
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature CentralBankNet looks at the furore surrounding recent comments from the EC President. Fur has been flying in all directions after Romano Prodi fired a broadside at the EU's Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). …
Japan's economy is not that sick
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, UK edition, 28 October, on Japan's economic problems and a potential solution.
House boom 'should not deter Bank' from rate cut
ARTICLE - The house price boom should no longer stand in the way of a cut in interest rates, according to Stephen Nickell, the longest-serving external member on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
Banks can park funds in infrastructure projects
ARTICLE - If the brief for a central bank is to guarantee liquidity in a milieu of low inflation and high forex reserves, the RBI can be said to have done more than its bit. On the supply side, RBI has been able to manage a dipping interest regime over…
Britain would be stupid to join the euro
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, UK edition, 22 October, from Theresa Villiers MEP.
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature CentralBankNet looks at moves which could see a shake up in the way the ECB investigates fraud.
The inconsistency of the anti-euro lobby
ARTICLE - Consider these two assertions. We cannot possibly join the euro because sterling is grotesquely overvalued - locking in today's exchange rate would condemn the economy to stagnation. Giving up sterling would be madness - robbing Britain of a…
Estonia's case for euro membership
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, UK edition, 21 October.
BOJ should create inflation to fight deflation
INTERVIEW - The best way to fight deflation is to create inflation, according to Kikuo Iwata, professor at Gakushuin University, who suggests the Bank of Japan set an inflation target of 1 to 3 percent for the next 12 months.
Japan already has its very own Greenspan
ARTICLE - "Japan needs an Alan Greenspan," some Japanese intellectuals recently demanded, and then went on to debate who the nation's own Greenspan might be. Given the country's dire economic straits, it is understandable that Japanese eyes are being…
Balcerowicz: Maastricht convergence opportunity
INTERVIEW - Summary of an interview with Leszek Balcerowicz, governor of the National Bank of Poland and chief of its Monetary Policy Council. The interview was published in a recent issue of Gazeta Wyborcza.
US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill - Time to go?
ARTICLE - Just what a fragile global economy doesn't need is a loose cannon as a US Treasury Secretary. Yet after a succession of gaffes that have sunk markets and offended presidents, Paul O'Neill remains unrepentant. Now is the time for him to resign…
Ignore the ghost of deflation past
ARTICLE - Financial market crystal ball gazers are focusing on the danger of a double-dip world recession.
Economists get the idea
ARTICLE - Two Nobel prizewinners have worked out why people do not always think rationally. John is interested in politics, he likes to participate in debates and is eager to appear in the media. Is John a salesman or is he a member of parliament?
Setting the Record Straight: By Kenneth Rogoff
LETTER - Letter from Kenneth Rogoff, Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department, International Monetary Fund. Submitted to Le Monde but not published, 4 October 2002.