Economics
BoE research offers insights from new regulatory database
The new database, comprising banks’ regulatory submissions, allows authors to shed new light on the evolution of the UK banking sector in recent decades
New factors driving EM corporate leverage – RBI paper
Changed macroeconomic backdrop has taken over from firm-specific factors in driving the build-up of corporate leverage in emerging markets, RBI economist finds
Encouraging creation of ‘quasi-safe assets’ may be destabilising, paper argues
Investors have distinct “safety demand”, researchers argue
Spanish paper proposes new measures for economic recoveries
Researchers apply new tests to data on US post-war expansions
RBNZ paper sets out new house price indexes
Improved dataset allows design of three new indexes, all of which produce “credible-looking” outcomes
Danish GDP revision helps solve productivity puzzle – bank
Figures better capture details of the current account, leading to substantial revisions in GDP and productivity growth, the Danish central bank finds
IMF authors examine conditions for structural reform success
Most labour and product market reforms strengthen medium-term output and fiscal sustainability, but they may be painful to implement in some parts of the cycle
Central banks’ liquidity injections may amplify bank runs, paper argues
ESRB paper looks at 2008 US crisis using simple model of bank runs
IMF paper offers new ways of measuring capital flow volatility
Authors say more granular dataset and three different methods of calculating capital flow volatility allow them to gain new insights
US policy is “ultimate risk” for emerging markets – panellists
Expert panel says US fiscal, trade and monetary policy all have the potential to cause trouble for emerging markets in the coming months, though some risks seem over-stated
Book notes: The Nobel Factor, by Avner Offer and Gabriel Söderberg
The authors offer some illuminating points on the politics behind the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, but fail to sufficiently challenge Sweden's social democracy, writes Graham Bannock
Scrap micro-foundations to repair macroeconomics – Steve Keen
Professor says economy should be viewed as a dynamic system with credit playing a crucial role, arguing we should ditch models such as DSGE
ECB paper models effects of bank guarantees
Guarantees improve welfare by increasing liquidity transformation, researchers find
RBA paper assesses FOMC’s forecasting performance
RBA and Fed economists collaborate on study of forecasting errors by the Federal Open Market Committee
Bank of Spain paper calculates implicit public debt thresholds
Researchers build on earlier work and apply models to Spanish data
Caruana: financial globalisation is not over
BIS chief says “peak finance” has not arrived, despite signs of a slowdown in global banking activity; warns against inward-looking policy-making
BoE paper raises risk of ‘bubbly growth traps’
Asset bubbles can direct resources to low-productivity sectors, which could explain the long hangover from recent crises, author says
IMF stays tough on debt relief as it prepares to return to Greece
Maurice Obstfeld and other top officials stress the fund’s demands on debt sustainability; mission to return to Greece next week
Economic shocks more likely to spread within EU – new research
Researchers use new model to measure propagation of regional shocks in Europe
Broad sectors of Irish economy are ‘very connected’ – study
Irish research uses network analysis to look at sectoral linkages
BoE unlikely to predict next financial crisis, says MPC member
BoE MPC members grilled by MPs in forecasting models and past errors; Vlieghe says current models are just not good enough
FOMC sentiment effects tested with ‘computational linguistics’
Economists find sentiment conveyed by FOMC statements affects policy expectations, inflation, and industrial production
Fed’s Williams says labour market figures are accurate
Current unemployment rate “accurately” reflects the state of the labour market; San Francisco Fed researches a broader measure of the market
IMF paper examines bank lending in Saudi Arabia
Despite low oil prices, credit to the private sector “remained robust”, but an overreliance on banks financing the deficit needs to stop, author says