Opinion
An overview of the Federal Reserve System
FEATURE - In an interesting article Hoover's Company Profiles look at the history of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Act followed the panic which ensued after the failure of New York's Knickerbocker Trust Company in 1907. J. P. Morgan strong…
More cogitating about world 'after Alan'
FEATURE - As various people remind us on an increasingly frequent basis, it's not too early to be speculating about the Greenspan succession question.
Central banks and asset inflation
FEATURE - A modern central bank needs to watch asset prices as well as traditional inflation.
Recent comments by Bank of England MPC members
Feature - Reflection on recent comment from the nine members of the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England, 19 April.
Back from a King's vault, the lone double eagle
FEATURE - It is a $20 gold piece from 1933 that was ordered destroyed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stolen from the United States Mint, it was exported for a king after the government committed the bumble of all bumbles, was contested in an…
The Recession that Almost Was
FEATURE - A Commentary by Kenneth Rogoff, Economic Counsellor and Director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund, 5 April.
FX traders to kiss goodbye to settlement risk
FEATURE - Currency traders, more aware of the potential for disruption in the financial system after September 11, should draw comfort from a long-awaited settlement system linked to central banks that is due to go live this year.
Japan lawmaker says BOJ chief not worth his salt
FEATURE - Is a central bank governor who has been unable to halt a three-year decline in prices or prevent the longest recession in decades worth his salt - particularly when his paycheck is 38.43 million yen ($293,000) a year?
Changing the guard on the Bank of England's MPC
FEATURE - The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is about to embark on its most radical shake-up since it was set up five years ago. Five of its nine members - including the Governor and his two deputies - will either be replaced or have their…
Thin skin - Don't mess with Buba
FEATURE - The upcoming German elections appear to have put German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in a foul and vindictive mood. Some months ago, there was the chancellor's surprisingly undiplomatic "How Dare You" response to Brussels' warning that Germany…
Interview with a regulator
FEATURE - Interview with Jeremy Cox, Supervisor of Insurance, Bermuda Monetary Authority. Originally published in the Asia Insurance Review on Monday.
When an ATM is an alien concept
FEATURE - It is only an ATM (automatic teller machine), but it might as well be an alien spacecraft, crash landed in central Vientiane. People do not know what to make of it - which is understandable when you consider that this is the first ATM in Laos.
Brazil's central bank - a question of independence
FEATURE - Brazil's central bank president, Arminio Fraga, may appear the only sure thing in Brasilia these days as election fever grips the capital of South America's number one economy. But the question to be asked is, for how long?
Bank's inner circle and its Outer Mongolia
FEATURE - The Bank of England is the City's Kremlin. From time to time figures appear on the balcony above its windowless walls, and the watchers must try to calculate whose stock is up and who has been posted to Outer Mongolia. There is no doubt that…
Greenspan's heir apparent stays cryptic
FEATURE - Judging by his refusal to provide a direct answer to a straightforward question, John Taylor is on track to become the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve writes Stephen Romei in The Australian on Monday.
Wim's wait
FEATURE - The European Central Bank is extending its "wait and see" policy from interest rates to the equally delicate matter of high-level appointments, reported Friday's FT in London.
IRAQ - Monetary analysis
IRAQ - The Central Bank of Iraq operates directly under the instruction of the government. As its activities are rather opaque, any analysis of policy is somewhat speculative, reports Quest Economics Database 27 March.
The recession that almost was
FEATURE - It is easy to dismiss the recent global downturn as a false alarm but policymakers should learn from it, says Kenneth Rogoff in Friday's Financial Times.
ECB's French connection is still fuzzy
FEATURE - The next president of the European Central Bank will be a Frenchman, but the question is: Which one?, asks the Wall Street Journal, 3 April.
The big problem of small change
FEATURE - It is a curious fact, writes Paul Podolsky in Thursday's Wall Street Journal Europe, that the world's most trusted currency, the dollar, represents a claim on an asset no more tangible than the faith of the U.S. government. The same is true for…
Expansion of Japanese broad money supply
LETTER - In a letter published in Thursday's Financial Times a chief economist explains how the Japanese money supply is increasing through commercial banks buying of government debt as a result of low demand for loans.
Keep floating, stop worrying
FEATURE - The real case for an independent pound has nothing to do with ultra-nationalism or hostility to Europe writes Samuel Brittan in Thursday's Financial Times. He suggests the British government allow use of the euro as a parallel currency and…
Central bank still basking in Communism
FEATURE - In Russia, "independence" is usually understood as the right to act with impunity and "control" as state intervention. These peculiarities of our national perception of reality were fully in evidence during the recent skirmish over the…
Pakistan work to establish modern financial system
FEATURE - As Afghanistan rebuilds, industrialized nations around the world are paying close attention to attempts by neighboring Pakistan to modernize its financial system, reports Nikkei Weekly.