Monthly Archives: October 2017

Cryptocurrency prices have been soaring and tanking and soaring again.  Here is a chart of the Bitcoin/£ exchange rate: The following thought experiment shows how a new currency with a fixed supply protocol may find it hard to break through … Continue reading →

Larry Summers wrote this piece recently, marking the 20 year celebrations of independence for the UK’s Bank of England, explaining why he thought the case for central bank independence was now weaker than in the past.  I am going to … Continue reading →

In conversation at MMF yesterday, a few of us were discussing what it would take to tip the MPC or similar into deliberating on, voting on, and publishing interest rate plans?  With their frequent yield-curve-talking, MPC are heading towards this … Continue reading →

One kind of forward guidance – consciously eschewed by central banks during the crisis – was dubbed ‘Odyssian’. The idea was that, deprived of being able to move the short interest rate by the zero bound, central banks would attempt … Continue reading →

Charles Goodhart, speaking at the Bank of England’s recent conference celebrating 20 years of central bank independence, was reported to have said ‘it was nice while it lasted’.  Andrew Benito of Goldman Sachs, speaking on a panel at a Money … Continue reading →