Monetary policy
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'
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
RBI's Mohanty reviews policy through crisis years
India's central bank joined its counterparts around the world in using unconventional monetary policy to tackle the financial crisis, and the effects of Fed taper
Macro-prudential and fiscal co-ordination could pay big dividends, IMF staffers say
International co-ordination of macro-prudential and fiscal policies would have a far greater effect than the literature predicts for internationally co-ordinated monetary policy, paper shows
Monetary transmission not to blame for weak bank lending in Brazil, IMF paper finds
Fewer loans due to shift in demand and possibly rapid expansion of state bank credit; if anything, sensitivity of lending to Selic rate changes seems to have increased, according to author
Carney: UK businesses ‘understand forward guidance well'
New governor's policy of providing guidance on future interest rates is useful for businesses and households, he says - despite financial markets apparently not believing it
IMF could help overcome ‘myopia' on international monetary policy co-operation
IMF deputy head of research Jonathan Ostry argues in new paper with Atish Ghosh that international macro policy co-ordination could bring global welfare benefits, with IMF playing a central role
Rajan outlines medium-term 'pillars' for improving India's financial system
The five pillars comprise a 'clarified' monetary policy framework and a more liquid sovereign bond market; nation would 'benefit enormously' from the elimination of 'poorly targeted' subsidies
Interest rates best transmit South African monetary policy, say researchers
New Sarb paper analyses five transmission channels for a monetary policy shock, finding interest rates to be the strongest, and asset prices the weakest
Link between ECB liquidity ops and interbank repo breaks down in crisis
Researchers at the New York Fed find that the relationship between ECB monetary policy operations and interbank borrowing did not survive the collapse of Lehman Brothers and associated crisis
Norges Bank issues ‘secret' advice on prudential regulation
Norwegian finance ministry will publish central bank recommendations on countercyclical buffers only once it has decided whether or not to follow the advice; bank holds interest rates at 1.5%
Bank of Russia sees inflation out of monetary policy control
Improvements to the transmission mechanism should enable the Russian central bank to target inflation more effectively, but prices will be influenced predominantly by non-monetary factors
BoJ’s Sato says central bank is ‘breaking away’ from incremental policy
Policy board member Takehiro Sato says QQE marks a departure from the conventional incremental approach to policy-making; says additional easing could be ‘counterproductive'
Korea sheds light on MPC voting results
Bank of Korea monetary policy report reflects on the decision to announce voting results in the wake of MPC meetings; only one disagreement in the ensuing seven meetings
NY Fed vice-president on the evolution of Fed monetary operations
Simon Potter says the Fed has 'developed and tested' many different monetary policy tools since the crisis, including term and overnight reverse repos 'diverting deposits from banks'
IMF paper highlights benefits of model-based approach to monetary policy analysis in LICs
New paper taking Kenya as an example finds benefits of a model-based approach to monetary policy analysis in low-income countries, including in countries with money-targeting frameworks
Diminishing importance of US in world economy mutes knock-on effects, finds BoJ paper
Tightening monetary policy in the US in the 1990s had significant adverse effects in the rest of the world - but the following decade, despite increased global integration, the effects were less
BSP to stay put on monetary policy following Haiyan
Philippines central bank is not expected to raise rates despite supply bottlenecks causing inflation spikes in the wake of typhoon Haiyan
Yellen wins Senate committee approval
US Senate Banking Committee backs Janet Yellen as the next Federal Reserve chair; latest FOMC minutes reveal support for a cut in the interest rate the Fed pays on excess reserves
Robert Pringle's Viewpoint: Carney makes his mark at the Bank of England
Mark Carney has achieved much more than meets the eye in his first five months as governor of the Bank of England
Belgian paper posits method for robust optimal monetary policy
Working paper suggests way of supplementing optimal monetary policy with elements of a rules-based policy, punishing policy-makers for deviation but not preventing them from exercising discretion
Central bankers face tough monetary policy dilemmas
Central bankers around the world need to rethink their approaches to monetary policy
OECD’s William White fears global economic system is still highly unstable
William White tells Christopher Jeffery he is wary of placing too much reliance on the ‘science’ of monetary or regulatory policy. He also believes the world economic system is still out of balance
Monetary policy is the incorrect tool to curb asset bubbles
There is no evidence the use of monetary policy in Sweden to keep household debt in check actually works. Such a policy only undermines employment and results in the Riksbank breaching its mandate