Official Money
G20 fails to act
CEOs of banks that rigged markets must go
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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Now for the next leg of the “financial crisis”
Central bankers know they may be laying the ground for it. An alternative approach is needed.
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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The importance of getting money right
The lifechances of seven billion people are shaped by global money
The experience people have of the world, their life chances, what they learn, how they live, where they live, indeed their entire social and personal lives are shaped by monetary relationships, the monetary economy and thus to the world monetary system to an extent completely unprecedented in history. This means getting money wrong will have…
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Globalisation – a poisoned chalice
Globalisation will triumph but bring many new problems with it
Against such a backdrop, financial globalisation appears to be a weak force. Yet it exists. It exists in many senses. Nations may raise capital controls – though surprisingly few actually have done. But there are ways round them. People’s desire to connect to the major centres of finance where the opportunities and investment chances…
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Is Europe falling apart?
The geo-political fallout from the financial crisis continues
The triumph of the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) and the National Front in France in the recent European elections is part of the continuing geo-political fallout from the global financial crisis – and above all from governments’ failure to manage it. The next could be Scotland’s departure from the UK and the UK’s departure…
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Rueff remembered
A great French monetary thinker recalled by a modern German central banker
Thinking about monetary and economic nationalism reminds one of the French economist Jacques Rueff (1898-1978). He strongly opposed economic fragmentation, nationalism and protectionism. He saw a good monetary system as a unifying force. Shall we blame him for the euro? He did say, back in 1949, that money would lead European integration: “L’Europe…
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What major monetary and banking reforms are needed?
Enough deceit!
The global financial crisis should be seen as a symptom of the lack of fit between three pieces of the jigsaw of modern finance – national or regional monies, innovative financial markets and a globalized financial system. It provided both an encouragement and a warning – an encouragement to search for alternatives…
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Geoffrey Ingham on Money
Why the debate on the nature of money matters
As the debate about the future of finance has yet to yield consensus on the way forward for policy, so more radical solutions are being openly discussed and advocated. This has stimulated a spreading debate on the very nature of money and banking. Geoffrey Ingham, a Life Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, has brought the…
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Geoffrey Ingham and “The Money Trap”
My gloss on his ideas - and what they mean for mine
Two key aspects or functions of money: 1. As a convenient medium of exchange – can be anything; but that’s not enough, as exchange rates between multiple media of exchange would be variable and result in anarchy 2. As a unit of account – this is primary, as Keynes taught – and explains why…
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1. The case for a global monetary standard
All major economies remain stuck in The Money Trap. The way out is to adopt a new monetary standard, the Ikon
Introduction To be in the trap means two things: The international monetary anti-system: Governments are in the trap when they act in the belief that if they get monetary, regulatory and fiscal policy “just right” for their own economies, they can achieve their aims – full employment, growth, stability – without paying attention to the…
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