Monetary Policy
Chinese labour costs set to play significant inflation role
Researchers suggest that increases in labour costs do not pass ‘fully’ through to prices in China; warn this could change on the back of ‘recent sizeable growth’ in nominal wages
Fed's Williams says ‘highly effective' forward guidance has a ‘number of limitations'
San Francisco Fed president defends the policy's record in a paper written for the Brookings Institution, but also says it is ‘prone to misinterpretation'
Dombret says 'ultra-loose' monetary policy won't fix 'lacklustre' investment
Andreas Dombret says financial and structural reforms are necessary to incentivise private sector investment; banking union will not solve the economic crisis in the eurozone
SNB's Jordan: 'Transparency can be counterproductive'
Chairman of the Swiss National Bank calls for central banks to take ‘great caution’ before making changes to their communications policy; expresses scepticism over board minutes and forward guidance
History likely to vindicate Fed's crisis policies, says Bernanke
The Federal Reserve has developed ‘all the tools needed' to manage monetary policy; costs of extraordinary measures exaggerated, Bernanke says
New collateral framework will have a ‘limited’ impact on banks, says DNB
Dutch central bank imposes tougher collateral requirements on the banks that use its services; more stringent than the wider Eurosystem, which has made a number of accommodations in recent years
Bank of Finland paper backs nominal GDP as policy target
Research finds that price level or nominal GDP targeting is ‘on the whole’ better than inflation targeting as long as private agents adapt their expectations accordingly
RBI director discusses management of 2013 capital outflows
High and unstable capital flows can lead to macro and financial stability concerns. But managing capital flows to minimise such concerns has costs too, says Deepak Mohanty
Central Bank of Brazil raises rates for seventh time in a row
Selic rate increased 50 basis points to 10.5% in unanimous decision following disappointing inflation figures published last week; rate up 275 basis points since April 2013
Mersch says ABS could help eurozone back to health
Addressing the Ifo Institute in Munich, ECB executive board member Yves Mersch said asset-backed securities have a bad reputation but a role to play in the European economic recovery
Fisher says Fed must stop QE ‘as soon as feasible'
Exit from quantitative easing is ‘daunting' according to Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher, who compared it yesterday to passing a camel through the eye of a needle
‘Yellenomics’ – the second coming of Keynes at the Fed
Janet Yellen's confirmation is an historic shift toward a more activist Fed, a reinstatement of Keynesian economics and expanded government in general, writes Thomas Cargill
Trichet calls on Troika to ‘gradually disappear’
Former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet defends the central bank’s role in the Troika; says the group should be phased out as policy-makers move away from curing crises and towards preventing them
Belarussian presidential decree sets out 2014 forward guidance
Belarus central bank's key refinancing rate will average between 14% and 16%, according to monetary policy guidelines approved by the president; exchange rate will be based on market forces
Lautenschläger rejects German stereotypes as she closes in on ECB job
Sabine Lautenschläger tells the European Parliament she will not imitate either Weidmann or Asmussen if she is appointed to ECB’s executive board; calls for governing council to publish minutes
RBI’s Mohanty lays out approach to rising food prices
The Reserve Bank of India will have to perform 'a careful balancing act' if it steps in to mitigate rising food prices, says executive director Deepak Mohanty
BoJ’s Shirai warns against rush for 2% inflation at all costs
Sayuri Shirai says it ‘may be appropriate’ to take longer than two years to meet the central bank’s inflation target of 2%; stresses the importance of achieving the goal in a ‘stable’ manner
Disappointing jobs report raises questions over Fed forward guidance
US unemployment falls toward Fed ‘threshold' of 6.5%, but few new jobs are added; confusing result raises questions for how - or whether - the Fed will proceed with its 'taper'
Fed minutes reveal QE wind-down balancing act
Reduction in monthly asset purchases of $10 billion meant to signal slow rather than quick tapering; thresholds becoming less relevant as economy improves
ECB 'strengthens' guidance but keeps policy on hold
Mario Draghi says December’s inflation drop was ‘broadly as expected’ and did not warrant a knee-jerk response; places additional emphasis on governing council’s forward guidance
Hungary minutes show calls to slow rate of cuts
Hungarian monetary policy council decided in December to again cut rates by 20 basis points, but two members argued it was time to slow the rate of easing
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Janet Yellen - that honeymoon feeling
Comparing what the new Fed chief should do with what is likely
Polish paper says monetary policy transmits mainly through real sector
Researchers at the National Bank of Poland build a structural vector-autoregression model that includes both fiscal and monetary policy
Riksbank board grappling with ‘genuine policy dilemma'
Minutes show last month's cut in interest rate was preceded by considerable apprehension, with one board member describing it as his ‘most difficult' decision to date at the central bank