Category Archives: Uncategorized

The UK financial press is full of pent up excitement about the budget.  Including talk of money ‘behind the sofa’ being replaced with the metaphorically transposed ‘black hole’, and how George Osborne will respond. We should all long for fiscal … Continue reading →

I had an interesting exchange with Malcolm Barr at JP Morgan via email.  He made two points that were food for thought. Both are aimed at finding ways to minimise the risk that a rise in the inflation target was … Continue reading →

The ECB announced this week that it was going to start buying investment grade corporate bonds.  Several people in my Twitter feed pointed out that there was a problem with this.  This chart posted on marginal revolution by Tyler Cowen … Continue reading →

I wrote this article as a preview to the budget for the Prospect website today.

Written in haste during a visit to South Africa, talking about fixing monetary and fiscal policy after the crisis [slides here], and recapping on recent tweets for those who don’t do Twitter. Yesterday, Carney appeared before Treasury Select Committee and … Continue reading →

Miles Kimball’s preferred solution to the current predicament, in which the zero, or quite near zero bound to central bank interest rates constrains the amount of stimulus that can be imparted, is to reform monetary institutions so that negative rates … Continue reading →

I listened to BoE Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent’s speech on digital currencies today.  It’s a tour de force. One line of thought that one might be tempted into is the following.  Because Bitcoin is not widely used as a unit … Continue reading →

Simon Wren Lewis pitches in to an exchange involving Adair Turner, myself and most recently Paul Krugman. Adair wrote to make the argument that helicopter money was an alternative to lowering interest rates.  My blog pointed out that it wasn’t.   … Continue reading →

Suppose you had a vote on an interest-rate committee at a central bank.  And you were wondering how to figure out what the falls in global stock prices in 2016 meant for your vote. You might try to reassure yourself … Continue reading →

Adair Turner wrote arguing for helicopter money, as an alternative to lower, or negative interest rates, to stimulate the economy.  Paul Krugman comes down on the side of Adair, concluding that I have got confused about what effect a helicopter … Continue reading →