Articles by Central Banking Newsdesk
Okun’s law is empirically robust but presents modelling problems, researchers say
Economists need to find more sophisticated methods to model the relationship between financial and labour markets, say the authors of an occasional paper published by the ECB
Credit contractions are significant cause of unemployment, researcher says
Data from 20 OECD countries shows that contractions in credit affect total, youth and long-term unemployment measures, a working paper from the Bank of Austria argues
Unconventional monetary policy does not rob the poor, Italian researchers argue
Studying the effects of the ECB’s quantitative easing programme on the wealth and incomes of 8,000 Italian households shows that the policies benefit the poorest, Bank of Italy paper argues
Islamic finance becoming ‘mainstream’ in Malaysia – BNM’s Ibrahim
Governor says Islamic finance has gone from a handful of firms to a quarter of the market in a matter of years; “pragmatic” approach may be part of success
PBoC gives World Bank green light as China’s first SDR bond issuer
World Bank to issue China’s first bond denominated in special drawing rights, in “landmark” step towards opening up Chinese bond market
People: BNM picks new assistant governor; Charlie Bean nominated to OBR post
Markets specialist takes over assistant governor role at Malaysian central bank; former BoE deputy to sit on budget oversight committee; new head of monetary policy research in Israel; and more
Danish research examines how central banks can impact market liquidity
Price of liquidity tends to change on days when central bank is operating in markets, with aggregate liquidity and payments activity also important, PhD thesis finds
BoE research finds support for Phillips curve in micro data
Authors turn to direct measures of firms’ expectations and employ new instrumental variables in search of empirical support for the Phillips curve
Blanchard sees reformed DSGE as ‘central’ to future of macroeconomics
Former IMF chief economist says DSGE models are “seriously flawed” but “eminently improvable”, and will have a leading role to play in the future
Asset prices can signal abnormal inflation rates, paper argues
Asset prices can provide warning of forthcoming high or low inflation, a Netherlands Bank working paper says, but transmission times can be “quite long”
EBA suggests anti-money laundering measures for virtual currencies
Major new legislation or amendments needed to regulate payments in virtual currency, EBA says; suggests changes to proposed extension of regulation and calls for deadline for implementation
Chinese authorities should introduce inflation target – IMF staff
Report by IMF staff sets out ‘key elements’ of transition to more market-based monetary framework; encourages explicit inflation goal and new intermediate target for policy
Chilean central bank changes guidance and keeps policy on hold
Central Bank of Chile removes reference to continued normalisation as inflation returns to target range; holds benchmark rate at 3.5%
Bundesbank paper models ‘information contagion’
A Deutsche Bundesbank working paper presents a model of how “information contagion” can cause bank runs and attempts to quantify it using data on Canada’s banking sector
RBNZ cuts rates and expects inflation to weaken further in short term
New Zealand central bank expresses concern over falling inflation in economy generally and rapidly rising prices in housing sector
Icelandic paper finds ‘striking’ ties between financial cycle and real economy
Authors identify strong financial cycle linked to global factors, which impacts macro variables including consumption and government spending; paper suggests range of policy responses
Riksbank paper looks to medieval Europe for ZLB solution
Idea of a “Gesell tax” on holdings of cash could help central bankers overcome the zero lower bound – an idea already tested by kings in medieval Europe
US enforcement actions stopped worse borrowing terms during subprime crisis, paper argues
Researchers compile database matching US enforcement actions to banks and their loans; price, duration and size of loans improved following enforcement actions, they argue
Croatian National Bank sees inflation recovering this year and next
Annual CPI inflation fell to –1.8% in May, but the central bank expects it to pick up in the coming months, eventually rising to 1.2% in 2017
US unconventional monetary policy most effective in financial crisis, paper argues
Conventional and unconventional monetary policies in the United States work through distinct channels, with different levels of effectiveness in crisis conditions, researchers argue
Money market interactions can explain behaviour of interest rate spreads, researchers argue
Paper analyses the interplay of unsecured and collateralised money markets; information obtained “can explain behaviour of interest rate spreads”, authors say
Rajan hopes new MPC will make next RBI policy statement
Reserve Bank of India keeps rates on hold in Rajan’s last decision before stepping down; he hopes the monetary policy committee will be up and running by next decision in October
Payments revamp should cut costs in Thailand, governor says
In an interview with Central Banking journal, Veerathai Santiprabhob lifts the lid on payment system reforms aimed at strengthening infrastructure and promoting debit card usage
IMF paper explores link between imports and pro-cyclicality of productivity
Research finds firm-level import decisions explain “non-trivial” fraction of fluctuations in aggregate productivity in South Korean manufacturing sector between 2006 and 2012