About: robert

  For many years  Lewis E. Lehrman and John D. Mueller have been calling attention to what they call the “reserve-currency curse.” Since some politicians and economists have recently insisted that the dollar’s official role as the world’s reserve currency is instead a great blessing, it is welcome that they have recently revisited the issue…
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  Total non-financial debt had risen substantially over the last 15 years. Public finances are not yet under control. Debt is excessive and poses a serious risk in a number of countries. What are the main risks? First, there is a risk of debt deflation – a situation in which the attempt to repay debt…
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  In his contribution to Central Banking’s 25th anniversary issue, Andrew Haldane, chief economist of the Bank of England, describes the “giant steps” that central banks have taken to “reinvent” themselves post crisis. These have involved innovations not only in monetary policies and in market operations but also the development of macro-prudential policies. Central bankers…
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  People know we haven’t cracked the problem. Anaemic, faltering growth has brought a sense of greater security and well-being only to those in work or those with assets like shares and city property that have floated up on the rising tide of central bank liquidity. Since 2007 vast disparities of wealth have become even…
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In effect, this is the money trap in operation – again. Central banks are in a quandary.  Unless they  return to “normal” levels of interest rates quite soon, the current model of capitalism, which depends on market-determined long-term rates, cannot function. If they do, however, raise interest rates any time soon, with debt leverage still…
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