Interest rates
Norges Bank: discretionary policy as good as simple rule policy
Norges Bank paper shows that optimal monetary policy is equally as effective in conducting policies as a simple rule system.
Poland’s search to find new governor on hold for now
Warsaw remains in mourning over the death of 96 members of its political elite following a plane crash on Saturday morning, in which both President Lech Kaczynski and central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek were killed
SF Fed: crisis showed simple policy rules more effective
San Francisico Fed paper reaffirms strength of simple policy guideline to monetary policy but stresses need for international framework
NY Fed's Dudley demands new bubble-bursting tools
New York Fed president calls for a judgment-based approach to dealing with asset price bubbles
Sarb: prime rate to repo rate spread immaterial
South African Reserve Bank paper finds the spread between its repo rate and the prime rate has no real implications for policy
Fed minutes note pickup in labour, credit conditions
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s last meeting acknowledge signs of life in the US economy, but Kansas chief Thomas Hoenig dissents on low rates pledge
Greenspan deflects blame during heated testimony
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan defends record but accepts some criticism
Aussie dollar boosted as RBA hikes again
Reserve Bank of Australia increases benchmark rate to 4.25%
IMF: credit markets key to economic recovery
IMF study shows that a healthy financial sector is essential to a speedy recovery in the economy
Denmark shoots down covered bonds idea
Danish governor argues against reforms to adjust requirements on covered bond collateral but concedes change is necessary
Goodfriend: interest on reserves best exit policy
Marvin Goodfriend offers Congress advice on how to exit from the Fed’s accommodative stance without disrupting markets
Norges Bank’s Gjedrem on rate decisions
Svein Gjedrem offers cautious outlook for growth following rate decision last week
Rate round-up
Israel hikes but raft of others cut, including Hungary, Russia, South Africa and Romania
Central banks, not debt will kill growth: economist
Independent economist Roger Nightingale charges that debt on its own is not incompatible with growth, but raising rates will kill growth
Fed: macro models ignored lower bound of yield curve
San Francisco Fed constructs an augmented version of macro-finance model following financial crisis
Bank explains UK housing bubble
Bank of England study links rising house prices to lower real long-term rates and lower inflation in the run up to the bubble
The bitter divide on inflation targeting
Economists are split over a recent suggestion that central banks should raise their inflation targets to allow more room for cuts in crises
Svensson: Riksbank needs to be more forceful
Riksbank deputy Lars Svensson explains Sweden’s response to crisis and draws on lessons for future
India surprises with 25 basis point hike
Reserve Bank of India ups key and repo rates as inflation bursts through 8.5% ceiling
Sweden’s Ingves explains decision to hold rates
Stefan Ingves the Riksbank’s governor offers reasons holding back on rate rise despite signs of strong economic recovery
BoJ board split on doubling liquidity scheme
Bank of Japan fixed-rate funds operations scheme to be doubled to ¥20 trillion, two board members dissent
BoE unanimously backed rate hold
The Bank keeps rates steady as the MPC remains cautious over the road to recovery
RBA justifies March rate hike
Signs of revival in economic activity convinced board members to hike rates by a quarter point
New BoK head sparks independence fears
Surprise choice of OECD representative Kim Choong-soo seen as way for government to exert control over central bank