Economics
Book notes: Empire of silver, by Jin Xu
A useful introduction to China’s monetary history, focusing on the last 1,000 years, but not the easiest of reads throughout
US adds more than half a million jobs in October
Unemployment falls to 4.6% as labour market perks up again
Yellen warns of ‘catastrophic’ effects of not raising debt limit
Treasury secretary says failing to raise ceiling would be a “manufactured crisis”
Canada records surprise GDP decline
Second-quarter figures show 0.3% contraction, which may affect taper and monetary policy
Microfinance improves access to bank credit – Fed paper
Study finds Rwandan initiative built credit record and made bank loans more accessible
Central Bank of Argentina calls for investigation of IMF agreement
Fund granted South American economy over $57 billion in 2018, its largest-ever package
Rich countries must aid poor over Covid-19: Georgieva
IMF chief warns of future financial instability and calls for major aid flows to developing world
IMF to update debt sustainability framework
Reforms aim to improve framework’s predictive capacity and transparency, IMF says
Eurozone inflation jumps to 0.9% in January
Analysts argue sharp increase was pushed by German tax increase and statistical changes
Brazil’s inflation still above target in January
Early reading recorded at 4.3%, adding pressure to tighten policy
New IMFC chair warns against premature stimulus withdrawal
Magadalena Andersson lays out priorities for the IMF over the coming years
IMF’s Georgieva highlights pandemic impact in Latin America
GDP contraction is forecast to be 8% of GDP in 2020, double the level for the global economy
Furlough schemes may conceal slack in EU labour market – ECB research
The longer the pandemic continues, the more job reallocation will be needed, authors say
Lower public spending holding back Middle East and Central Asia
Efficient and targeted investments require comprehensive data, says IMF paper
Official institutions lead the Covid‑19 recovery charge
Tested by the Covid-19 pandemic, market consensus is that official institutions have been instrumental in mitigating market disruption. As economies work out how to adapt to a post-lockdown world, major public bodies are likely to play a key role in the…
IMF takes new steps to support weaker countries
Fund approves immediate debt relief for 25 countries; offers Ghana $1 billion to fight Covid-19
Rates have been falling for eight centuries – BoE research
Study casts doubt on major theories, including secular stagnation; author warns rates could “soon enter permanently negative territory”
Machine learning can produce better credit scores – BIS paper
Fintech firms may be better at predicting default rates, researchers find
Macroeconomics is not broken
The discipline has moved beyond the neoclassical synthesis. Critics should too
Research proposes ‘Monk’ model of long-term monetary transmission
Equilibrium in standard models only affected by short rates, say Garriga, Kydland and Šustek
SBP looks back on tough year for Pakistan
Lack of fiscal consolidation hampered central bank’s crisis response, annual report says
Central banks increasingly embracing the cloud
Forms of cloud computing are becoming more prevalent, despite central banks’ caution
Big data in central banks: 2019 survey results
Many central banks are overhauling their data governance, which has facilitated a broadening in their use of big data. They are also turning to external specialists for help
Global credit to non-banks growing faster in Q2 – BIS figures
Latest global liquidity figures show rapid growth in lending to the non-bank sector