Skip to Content

Tag Archives: economics

Do central banks rely too much on economists?

If  economics is likened to a religion it is easy to see how it may be viewed as dangerous. It may blind its devotees to the claims of competing world-views. If  economists arrogantly claim that their special insight gives them the right to prescribe policy, it may provide spurious legitimacy for harmful actions. It may lead…
» Continue Reading

How we got into the money trap – and how to get out

The world took time to get into the money trap. But with one bound it can be free. Since the 1970s governments have tried various approaches to the challenges of managing money. In the 1970s, they put full employment top. They used monetary policies to expand demand, taking risks with inflation. The results included high…
» Continue Reading

Adair Turner (1): Right on the case for radical reform

One person who fully grasps the urgent need for more radical reforms is Lord (Adair) Turner, former head of Britain Financial Services Authority. He also specifies what reforms he feels are needed and makes an eloquent plea for them. These two features set his contributions apart from 90% of writings on the topic. Here I…
» Continue Reading

Hypocritical protests at depositor bail-in proposal

Am I the only person to feel that the howls of moral outrage, protests and scathing editorials that greeted the first plan to “solve” the Cyprus banking crisis were somewhat overdone?. I myself joined in the criticism of the proposal to tax all deposits, and recommended the example of Iceland – while pointing out that Cyprus…
» Continue Reading

Regulation at a dead end

  Last week Charles Goodhart uttered what I called his cry of despair (See RP’s Diary 13/01/13); now it is BOE’s Andy Haldane’s turn. Goodhart has realised that we are running out of monetary policy models – rules or frameworks like inflation targeting (IT) by which central banks steer interest rate policies. He warns of…
» Continue Reading

Eurozone to lead world out of the money trap?

  There is a long, long way to go. But confidence is gradually returning to the eurozone – confidence that at least a break-up of the eurozone will be avoided (thought his does not exclude the possibility that Greece may leave). The fall in spreads on Spanish and Italian bonds over German bunds is one…
» Continue Reading

The Sun King and The Money Trap

  The knives are out for Sir Mervyn (“The Sun” ) King. Commentators who once stood in awe now rush to condemn him.This is not a pretty sight. It is also unfair to someone who, while not being the right man to manage the UK’s biggest financial crisis ever, has made important contributions to re-thinking…
» Continue Reading

Central banks remain stuck in the trap

        Mervyn King has mounted a defence of inflation targeting. Monetary policy, he claims, is part of the solution to the crisis, not part of the problem. This view was echoed by many official spokesmen at the recent IMF meeting in Tokyo. Christine Lagarde praised the central banks. There are quite minor…
» Continue Reading

Hypocrisy does not help

The financial crisis that began on this date in August 2007 has not ended. It continues, and will continue so long as policy-makers and economists fail to learn its lessons. Instead, what we have is a mountain of hypocrisy. Almost everybody is being economical with the truth. This applies to central bankers, financial regulators and…
» Continue Reading

Will the Euromark be Europe’s Future?

The German government is being told by everybody outside Germany – and by many inside it – to rescue the euro. It must do so, according to the critics, by expanding demand, underwriting the issue of eurobonds, taking responsibility for feckless countries like Greece, bailing out dumb bankers, and backstopping extravagant, irresponsible governments. That is…
» Continue Reading