Opinion/Monetary Policy
Overbidding problem in the ECB fixed rate auctions
ARTICLE - Dieter Nautz from Goethe University and Jorg Oechssler from Bonn University have written a paper "The repo auctions of the European Central Bank and the vanishing quota puzzle". The article examines the overbidding problem faced by the ECB in…
What is wrong with Taylor Rules?
ARTICLE - Lars Svensson, professor of economics at Stockholm University, has published an article "What is Wrong with Taylor Rules? Using Judgment in Monetary Policy through Targeting Rules". In the paper, Svensson says that Taylor Rules are an…
Inflation targeting and the liquidity trap
ARTICLE - Bennett McCallum from the National Bureau of Economic Research has published an article on "Inflation Targeting and the Liquidity Trap". The paper says that 'liquidity trap' issues do not have an important bearing on the desirability of…
RBI may cut India bank rate Q2 of 01/02-JP Morgan
INDIA - India's central bank, which on Apr 19 released a monetary policy statement without any changes in rates, is expected to lower its benchmark bank rate later this year, JP Morgan Securities India said in a research report.
Britain and EMU - the five economic tests
ARTICLE - GrahamBishop.com's latest publication on "Britain and Euroland" finds that the degree of divergence between Britain and key EU countries has already halved since the UK Treasury's 1997 assessment. So with a UK general election due in June 2001,…
Monetary policy for an open economy-McCallum
ARTICLE - Bennett McCallum and Edward Nelson have written an article "Monetary Policy for an Open Economy: An Alternative Framework with Optimizing Agents and Sticky Prices". The authors use an alternative approach for constructing open economy models by…
Getting to the heart of central bank indecisivenes
ARTICLE - A letter published in the Financial Times on Apr 11 comments on an article published in the FT on Apr 10 "Avoiding interest rate surprises" which gave a personal view by European member of parliament Sir Christopher Huhne.
Expanded monetary union in West Africa
ARTICLE - In an article published in the IMF's quarterly magazine, IMF economists R.D. Asante and Paul Robert Masson talk with Jacqueline Irving of the IMF's external relations department about the pros and cons of expanded monetary union in West Africa.
ECB should avoid market surprises-Chris Huhne
ARTICLE - In a guest column in the Financial Times on Apr 10, euro MP Chris Huhne says that the European Central Bank needs a clearer reporting process for its decisions on monetary policy.
Optimal monetary policy in a currency area
ARTICLE - Pierpaolo Benigno has written an paper "Optimal monetary policy in a currency area" for the Centre for Economic and Policy Research. The author concludes that the European Central Bank should give a higher weight to inflation in the countries…
Central bank independence in Poland from 1924-26
ARTICLE - In an article in Public Budgeting & Finance, Gail Makinen from the Congress Library looks at the success of Poland's 1924-26 stabilisation plan. She concludes that a balanced budget may be more important to achieving price stability than…
Credibility of Colombia's exchange rate target
ARTICLE - In a fairly technical article in the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Arturo Jose Galindo from the Inter-American Development Bank analyses the credibility of Colombia's exchange rate target zone. His results suggest that there is…
Is inflation targeting feasible in Poland?-article
ARTICLE - "Is inflation targeting feasible in Poland?" is a new article in the journal The Economics of Transition, Volume 9: Issue 1, co-written by Peter Christoffersen at McGill University, and Torsten Slk and Robert Wescott at the International…
Q&A: New procedures for BoJ money mkt operations
ARTICLE - The Bank of Japan has published a short question and answer article about its new procedures for money market operations which started on Mar 19, 2001. It says that although the procedures are intended to produce the same effects as the "Zero…
The Accidental Redistribution of ECB Profits
ARTICLE - According to the latest calculations of Hans-Wener Sinn and Holgar Feist, the division of European Central Bank profits will see Germany lose E. 30bn and France gain a similar amount.
New CEPR dicussion papers-Mar 2001
ARTICLE - The Centre for Economic and Policy Research are publishing four articles mostly by economist Charles Wyplosz on central bank isssues in March 2001 - Do We Know How Low Inflation Should Be?, How Risky is Financial Liberalization in the…
Optimal Degrees of Transparency in Monetary Policy
ARTICLE - According to most academics and policymakers, transparency in monetary policymaking is desirable. However, an article by Henrik Jensen titled "Optimal Degrees of Transparency in Monetary Policymaking" says that high transparency may be a policy…
Performance of US econ since Oct 1987 crash-Levy
ARTICLE - "An Economic Assessment: Contained Depression or the Foothills of Recovery? U.S. and Global Finance Prospects; The Performance of the Economy Since the October 1987 Crash" by Robert Barbera and David A. Levy. The authors argues over the causes…
Interview: BoE's MPC member Sushil Wadhwani
Sushil Wadhwani, an "external" member of the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England, explains why he is a "productivity optimist". Over the last decade, forecasters have systematically underestimated GDP growth in the UK and simultaneously…
Interview: ECB's Otmar Issing
The chief economist and executive board member of the EuropeanCentral Bank gives an inside view on the ECB's thinking: Why hasthe ECB recently started publishing macroeconomic projectionsrather than forecasts, and what do these projections mean…
Slowdown in the US Economy- HKMA's Joseph Yam
The suddenness of the recent slowdown in the US economy has taken many by surprise. But policymakers have plenty of scope for turning this inevitable adjustment into a more sustainable growth path. By Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary…
'Greenspan stirs a tempest' - John Berry
"Mr Greenspan sauntered up to the Hill and wasn't bashful about putting the Fed smack in the middle of the most controversial issue of the day", complained Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota. Whatever the wisdom of Greenspan's support for big…
Differing views -Swedish participation in the euro
Although Sweden, unlike the United Kingdom and Denmark, does not have an opt-out authorising it to remain outside the Euro zone even if it were to meet all the convergence criteria, the country's Minister for External Trade, Leif Pagrotsky, has insisted…