Official Money
Central banks remain stuck in the trap
The true lessons of the crisis have yet to be learnt
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…
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The IMF gets radical
Inadequate, slow and badly-designed reforms
To some people’s surprise, the IMF under Christine Lagarde is pushing governments and stamping its authority on financial sector issues in ways that it has seldom done before. Following my prediction of another financial crisis (RP’s Diary, 23 September), the IMF today argues that banking reforms do not go nearly far enough. The reforms have…
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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…
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What the G20 should do at Los Cabos
RP’s Diary
“The global recovery has stalled again as confidence in policy makers’ ability to provide conditions for growth has slipped away” writes Chris Giles of the Financial Times, in his report from Los Cabos on the opening day of the G20 meeting there. According to the latest FT/Brookings Institution Tiger Index, world economic growth is stalling…
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Is global financial reform possible?
RP’s Diary
Paul Volcker, one of the few universally-esteemed central bankers of the 20th century, has summed up in a few words the messages of The Money Trap. Maybe I should have saved myself the trouble of writing the 340 page book. At least, that was my immediate thought on reading his article. A colleague called to…
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What is the “Money Trap”?
RP's Diary
I am in Hong Kong, enjoying a wonderful view over the harbour towards Kowloon. Here, it seems to be always boom time. Hong Kong has its occasional crashes and crises, but the default mode is one of optimism, expansion, innovation. Hong Kong is a crucial bridge between Europe and Asia, between the City of London,…
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Still trapped
RP’s Diary
I started writing The Money Trap two years ago because I had become irritated by the narrow terms in which the economic debate was being conducted. In all advanced countries, the same arguments, between those who wanted more expansionary policies and those who insisted on more austerity, rolled on without resolution – and without producing…
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