What’s really wrong with NAIRU
Earlier this year, Matthew Klein at FT’s Alphaville, made a typically punchy and well-argued case for abandoning a cornerstone of the current macro policy framework - the NAIRU...
Rogoff's law - the opposite is usually true
Punning on Kenneth Rogoff's surname is proving irresistible. He has just launched a new economics blog, which should prove rich in thought-provoking missives. Conf...
Three new bazookas
Recent shifts in policy direction by global central banks may prove to be profound. The Bank of Japan and the ECB appear to be conceding that further bond purchases and lower policy rates ar...
Has the last thirty years of macroeconomics been a waste of time?
World Bank chief economist, Paul Romer, has again written a very important critique of modern macroeconomics – or more specifically the academi...
Chris Sims is a deeply thoughtful economist and his paper at the recent Jackson Hole conference has rightly received a lot of attention, notably from Gavyn Davies, in the FT, and Paul Krugman.
It is simultan...
Like many economists, I have been trapped into thinking that there is an equilibrium real rate of interest - a level of the policy rate consistent with stable inflation, a closed output gap, or full employment....
Safe assets are bunds, treasuries, gilts, JGBs and other government bonds issued by large developed economies. In one sense, they actually are ‘safe’ assets. They are typically negatively correlated with risk a...
The monetary & fiscal distinction revisited
Monetary policy involves changes in the supply of base money and is carried out by central banks. Fiscal policy involves taxation, spending and transfers carried o...
Learn first, then teach
Professors Stephen Cecchetti and Kermit Schoenholtz are the latest to opine on the subject of helicopter money. It is worth quoting from their opening paragraphs, it frees me up to re...
We live in a era where monetary policy is more transparent than ever - if measured by press conferences, publication of minutes and individual policy-makers forecasts.
At the same time, the behaviour of cent...