Research
Bank of England Financial Stability Review, Dec 04
The Bank of England published its latest Financial Stability Review for December 2004 on Monday 13 December. Near-term credit, market and liquidity risks to UK financial stability have remained subdued since the June Review, and the immediate prospects…
Sveriges Riksbank Inflation Report, No. 4, 2004
Sweden's central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, has published its Fourth Inflation Report for 2004. The assessment in the October Inflation Report still stands, although new statistics received since October indicate a slightly weaker development than…
Bank of Canada Financial System Review, Dec 2004
The Bank of Canada published its semi-annual Financial System Review on 9 December. The report says continued strong global economic growth has reduced financial vulnerabilities in Canada and elsewhere. Higher oil prices have, however, raised questions…
'The Region' from the Minneapolis Fed, Dec 2004
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has published its regular magazine, The Region, for December 2004. In "The private and public risks of banking" Gary Stern warns that banking policy continues to shift too much risk taking onto the public. The…
RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement, December 2004
Speaking at the release of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's December 2004 Monetary Policy Statement on Thursday 9 December, RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard said "As indicated in our October Review, we continue to expect that the current policy position will…
Sveriges Riksbank, Financial Stability Report 2:04
Sweden's central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, published its second Financial Stability Report for 2004 on 2 December. Household sector indebtedness has continued to rise during the autumn. At the same time there are currently no indications that this…
Bank of Canada, Business Outlook Survey, Autumn 04
The Bank of Canada's Autumn 2004 Business Outlook Survey reports that businesses remain essentially as optimistic about the economic outlook as they were in the summer survey. Although they have marked down their growth forecast for the US economy,…
State Street on the dollar
John Nugee of State Street Global Advisors, formerly of the Bank of England, has today released an analysis of the dollar problem. The paper argues that the main effect of the dollar weakness on central banks' willingness to hold dollars may be felt not…
BIS Quarterly Review, December 2004
Improved macroeconomic data and the stabilisation of oil prices encouraged investors to become more optimistic about the strength of the global economy, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said in its Quarterly Review, December 2004.
OECD Economic Outlook, November 2004
The OECD's Economic Outlook for November 2004 reports that sharp rises in oil prices have slowed the global expansion, but barring further increases, the world's major economies should regain momentum in 2005.
Bank of Canada Review, Autumn 2004
The Bank of Canada has published its Review for Autumn 2004. The Review contains four articles including "Asset prices and monetary policy: A Canadian perspective on the issues". This article addresses the extent to which monetary policy in Canada should…
Recommendations for Central Counterparties
The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released a report entitled Recommendations for Central Counterparties on Wednesday 24 November.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, Nov 2004
According to the firms surveyed for the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey, November 2004, activity in the region's manufacturing sector continues to expand. Manufacturing executives are more optimistic than they were last month about future…
Exchange rate policy and sovereign bond spreads
A recent IMF working paper claims to be the first empirical study on the impact of exchange rate policy on sovereign bond spreads in developing countries. The choice of exchange rate matters, the authors argue. They find that real exchange rate…
Easing out of Monetary Easing
As an end to deflation nears, the Bank of Japan faces the tricky question of how to leave behind its policy of "quantitative easing". The San Francisco Fed has some advice.
ECB Monthly Bulletin, November 2004
The European Central Bank published its November 2004 Monthly Bulletin on Thursday 11 November, saying in its regular quarterly 'Survey of Professional Forecasters', that the experts had revised downward their growth forecast for 2005 to 2% from 2.1%…
SARB, Monetary Policy Review, Nov 2004
The South African Reserve Bank has published its Monetary Policy Review for November 2004. Inflation has remained within the target range for the past 13 months. This outcome was achieved through responsible monetary and fiscal policies, improved…
Bank of England Inflation Report, November 2004
The Bank of England published its November 2004 Inflation Report on 10 November. In the report the Bank cut its forecast for UK economic growth in 2005 to about 2.5 per cent from 3.1 per cent and said that inflation may accelerate less than expected.
Joint Forum report on credit risk transfer
The Joint Forum has released for consultation a report prepared by its working group on risk assessment and capital entitled Credit Risk Transfer. The report responds to a request by the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) to undertake a review of credit…
Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review 3rd Quarter 2004
The Sveriges Riksbank published its Economic Review for the 3rd Quarter 2004 on 8 November. The latest issue contains three articles: How should the Riksbank's financial stability work develop?, Cash-supply efficiency and Inflation and relative-price…
RBA Statement on Monetary Policy, November 2004
The Reserve Bank of Australia published its November 2004 Statement on Monetary Policy on 8 November. The Australian economy has continued to perform well during 2004, maintaining a solid pace of expansion and low inflation, the report said.
The Mussa Theorem & IMF induced moral hazard
Using a simple model of international lending, this IMF Working Paper shows that as long as the IMF lends at an actuarially fair interest rate and debtor governments maximize the welfare of their taxpayers, any changes in policy effort, capital flows, or…
Fed Reserve Bank of St Louis Review, Nov/Dec 2004
The latest edition of the St Louis Fed's Review for November-December 2004 includes the article "Monetary policy and asset prices: A look back at past U.S. stock market booms" which examines the economic environments in which past U.S. stock market booms…
IMF paper: new taxonomy of monetary regimes
This IMF Working Paper proposes a new taxonomy of monetary regimes defined by the choice and clarity of the nominal anchor. The regimes are: (i) monetary nonautonomy, (ii) weak anchor, (iii) money anchor, (iv) exchange rate peg, (v) full-fledged…